TheChoice
by here4thereylo
Summary: Ben Solo is the Crown Prince of the New Republic, and tradition dictates that in order to become King, he must marry. Not a princess, but a woman of the Republic. Rey Kanata reluctantly applies to The Choice, the nationwide contest to earn Prince Ben's affection and a chance to become the future Queen. The Selection AU. Or: Hunger Games meets The Bachelor (with less dying).
1. Chapter1

"You can't make me do it."

Rey Kanata sat at the kitchen table, eating plain toast for breakfast. Again. Normally she's perfectly content with the meager resources her and her mother survive on, but this morning her emotions were running high. It's rare she gets in a fight with Maz, but entering The Choice was never part of her master plan. At least until today, apparently.

"I know you haven't been dreaming of it since you were a kid like the other girls your age, but for it to happen in your lifetime, you have to at least consider it!" Maz retorted.

"They would never pick me anyway even if I did apply. Girls from all over are going to be entering this thing and they only pick one from each province."

"Then it certainly can't hurt to enter, child." Maz's wisdom out-maneuvered Rey again. Damn, that woman was clever, even when Rey didn't want to admit it.

"Fine, I'll go by there today after I'm done at the garage and submit an application." Rey conceded.

"Go before - you always get greased up at the garage - you want your best face forward for the photo submission." Thwarted again, Rey thought.

As Rey left the house, she pondered how she even got to this point. The Republic was still fairly new in its reign, Queen Leia being the first leader under the current monarchy, after the fall of the Empire. In the tumultuous time right after the long wars between the Republic and the Empire, Leia was the leader the country needed, both in appearance and in political savvy. However, as with any new regime, the public was skeptical of yet another monarch.

That was how The Choice was born.

In order to unify the provinces, put out a strong presence, and be able to focus on building a better world, shortly after Leia became queen, the royal palace instilled a new policy.

When she became of marrying age, a country wide contest took place; an eligible bachelor from each province was selected through a robust screening process, and whisked away to the palace for a two month long courtship.

This way, half of the very first royal couple of the New Republic belonged to the people. The best part? It was broadcast across the country so all citizens could get to know not only their new Queen, but their soon-to-be new King.

Rey hadn't been alive for that, but the stories she heard were legend. Han Solo from Corellia, a man with no real career prospects other than smuggling, entered on a dare and got picked to represent his province. He charmed his way into Leia's heart, while simultaneously not following a single etiquette rule. The country adored him and his blasé attitude towards royalty, who'd rather fix cars than hold court. Almost like--

Rey snapped back to the present. She had arrived at the municipal building, waiting in line behind nearly fifty other girls around her age, all dolled up in their best outfits and hair and makeup done to perfection. Meanwhile, she had her hair in her normal three bun style, her usual work pants and a tank top donning her lithe figure. No reason to go out of her way to look like someone she's not in order to impress some snobby prince she'd never met. She shuffled through the line, filled out her application, and sat down for the photo. Just before the photographer snapped her picture, her phone chimed.

**Finn:** Meet me at the garage, 15 minutes? Got a surprise for you ;)

"Okay smile on the count of three. One...two…"

Rey looked up from her phone with the widest smile on her face, just as the camera went off.


	2. Chapter2

Jakku was the poorest province in the Republic. Where other parts of the country had lush terrain for farming, or industrial prowess, Jakku never truly recovered from the war. Many people scraped by, including Rey and her mother. Rey was good with her hands, and was able to bring home a living wage from her work at Plutt's garage. He was a creep, to be sure, but left her well enough alone. She was proficient at what she did and he found when he didn't bother her, he made more money.

When Rey walked up to the garage's front entrance, a dark-skinned man with a medium build and features weary beyond his years was waiting for her.

Rey walked right past him and unlocked the door, allowing him to enter behind her. As soon as the door shut away from the public eye, they gave each other a big hug. No need to give any prying eyes the wrong idea. Finn and Rey had been inseparable since they were little kids. Growing up in the same neighborhood, with not much in the way of luxuries to occupy their time, they managed a carefree childhood of playing with nothing but their imaginations. But too soon they had to grow up; Finn had four younger siblings at home and when his father passed, he had to find work to take care of his family. The two of them worked in tandem at their respective jobs, Rey at Plutt's garage and Finn at the electric company as a lineman, with whatever they made split evenly to make ends meet for both their families. Oftentimes Rey would give some extra of her pay to Finn, since he had so many extra mouths to feed.

"Maz made me apply for The Choice today." Rey spat out before Finn could tell her his surprise. His face fell immediately from curious to crestfallen. "Sorry, you go first."

"Oh. Well, that's great news!" Finn responded unconvincingly.

"It's not great news and you know it, Finn. At least I know I'll never get picked, there were at least fifty other girls in line when I got there and the line was even longer when I left. There's no way it could be me." Before Finn could interrupt, Rey continued. "I only did it to make Maz happy. I have no intention of changing my life, I couldn't leave everyone behind. So I don't even really want to talk about it, I just felt like I had to tell you. Now, what was your surprise for me?"

"I...well. Look, I know you don't want to talk about it Rey, but I think it's great you did it. I know my little sister is just of age, she couldn't submit her application fast enough. I just think we gotta take whatever chance we can to try to make our lives better." Finn held up his hand, sensing Rey's impending rebuttal. "If you didn't enter because you didn't want to leave me behind, I don't think I'd forgive myself. Not when you could help Maz and everyone better by being at the palace. Heck, if you win, you could change the whole country! But, like you said, it's unlikely you'll get picked. No harm no foul, right?"

"I guess you're right. But, even if I do get picked, there's no way I'll fall in love with the prince. From everything I've seen, I won't even like the guy."

"I know, I know. But hey, you've entered and hopefully that's the last of it. Now, I did promise you a surprise. It's not really that important, actually. I just brought you some extra snacks I swiped on my way out of work today." Finn pulled out of his back pocket a small package of sweets. She felt like maybe he was omitting something, but she couldn't deny the snack in front of her.

"That's huge! How did you not get in trouble?" Rey asked as she grabbed the treat from his proffered hand and dug right in. Rey knew that it was a risk for Finn to steal when no one had an abundance. However, she never turned turn down free food, even if it was acquired by less than honorable means. Finn didn't respond, but it didn't matter; they were thick as thieves, navigating their way through life together, The Choice be damned.

The next weeks flew by, and before Rey could blink it was the day of the lottery. Finn and Rey were acting like nothing was any different, but Rey had the inescapable feeling that they had been living on borrowed time. The uncertainty of The Choice loomed over their heads, no matter what they did to try to keep their minds off it.

Finn was the first to broach the subject after a stilted silence. "Tonight's the lottery." He mentioned as Rey closed up the garage and they began their walk back to their neighborhood. He looked anxious. "Are you nervous?"

"Not really." It was a half-truth. "It's just going to be a quiet night with Maz. We'll watch The Report like usual, and then we can get back to our normal lives. All of us."

"Don't you think it's weird that they say it's a lottery, but they wanted detailed information on your application and a photograph?" Finn asked. She could tell he had been thinking about that for days.

"What, are you suggesting it's rigged or something?" Rey asked. She hadn't thought about it much, but Finn did have a point. He just shrugged his shoulders and let the subject drop, both of them now lost in thought as they journeyed on.

Too soon, they arrived at Rey's house. Rey gave him a quick hug, promised to text him later, and went inside where Maz was waiting with dinner. Soup. Again.

If I got selected at least there might be better food. Maybe I could send some back to-- Rey thought to herself before stopping mid-thought. You aren't getting picked, stop thinking about it.

Maz and Rey settled down in their modest living room to turn on the monarchy-sponsored programming channel. Normally the channel played some daily drabble of what was happening throughout the country, mundane things like weather and trade reports. Then a weekly program called The Capital Report aired every Friday, featuring Queen Leia and her board of advisors. King Han and Prince Ben were always present as well, always visible but rarely participating. Ben had been joining his mother more and more the last few months; Rey presumed that meant he was starting to take on more responsibilities. The Report gave the royal family a chance to discuss not only the news going on around the various provinces and at the palace, but to openly communicate with their citizens in a direct fashion. The Report was the best, if not only, entertainment offered, sponsored by the government. And it was about to get even better over the next several months with The Choice. No one would dare miss an update when they could get to glimpse and theorize on who their next queen would be one day.

They ate in a comfortable silence; Rey wondered what Maz was thinking before her mother abruptly spoke up.

"I have a good feeling about tonight, child. I know you have been trying to make a name for yourself and take care of me here in Jakku. But the belonging you truly seek is ahead of you, it isn't here." Maz always had a way of speaking in an almost prophetic manner. "I remember the last Choice. That Han Solo resisted every step of the process, but you could not deny the instant chemistry he and Leia had, even from his first day in the palace. He really was a scoundrel back in those days." Maz adjusted her coke bottle glasses while she reminisced, a slight twinkle in her eye.

Rey subtly rolled her eyes. "You talk like you know the King personally, mom."

Before Maz could confirm or deny that claim, the familiar sound of the national anthem started playing, indicating the beginning of the weekly Report.

"Good evening everyone in the Republic, and welcome to the Republic Capital Report! It's a beautiful night here in Alderaan! I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath the last few weeks since we announced the beginning of The Choice. Well, the wait is finally over." The familiar voice chimed from the television.

Armitage Hux was the primary correspondent and host extraordinaire for the royal family, and was a weekly visitor in every household across the nation. The tall, pale, and thin man appeared on their screens. He had a shock of ginger hair swooping in a wave across his forehead, styled so meticulously not a single hair was out of place. His burgundy suit was well-tailored and exuded wealth and high fashion; an outfit worthy of being among the royal family.

"We have waited a long time for this moment!" Hux continued. He normally kept a stoic personality on the program; his added enthusiasm must have been encouraged by the Crown for the special occasion. "It has been nearly thirty years since our last Choice process, so I know the anticipation probably has you all at the edge of your seat! While I won't spoil all the surprises right away, I will give everyone a sneak peak of what to expect in the weeks to come. In addition, our first big event occurs tonight as well - the selection of all these wonderful ladies!"

"Over the last few weeks our application process has been open to all women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five in every province across the country. Each woman filled out an identical application and had their photograph taken. Then, all submissions were gathered and vetted by an independent team employed by Queen Leia herself for legitimacy and eligibility, and to eliminate any potential bias - and no, the prince did not get to peek at any applications!"

In their living room, Rey snorted. "Of course there's bias. Finn thinks the whole thing is rigged so it's not even going to be random." she mumbled.

"Shh!" Maz retorted, "you're going to miss the prince's entrance." Rey resisted rolling her eyes again; of course her mom was a Prince Ben fangirl.

"Before we get to the announcement of our lovely new prospects, let's bring out the man of honor! Come on out, Ben." Hux announced and began clapping, encouraging those at home to be involved as Prince Ben came into frame and took a seat on the chair that had been placed next to Hux.

Rey has seen Prince Ben before. How could she not, when the royal family made an appearance on their television almost every week? Even though she has no desire to be a part of that life, she had to acknowledge Ben's unique features. Though she could appreciate his porcelain skin freckled with moles, and his wavy dark locks that expertly framed his face, she knew better. Anyone that had everything handed to them were bound to be insufferable. She almost felt bad for whoever would ultimately win this thing; she imagined what a boring life they would have, having to be Ben's arm candy for the rest of their life. She was glad she didn't dress up for her picture, even as a silent protest at the thought of ever having to interact with someone so inevitably titled. In Jakku, there weren't many people with any modicum of wealth or fortune, but the very few that didn't scavenge to make ends meet were the worst sort.

Rey came out of her reverie as Ben was in the middle of answering a question. "Nope, that was something I wanted to do differently this time." He looked so stiff and awkward sitting in that chair, fidgeting around. Was he uncomfortable to have the attention all on him?

"What was the question?" Rey asked Maz, who just waved her off to continue listening.

"What a wonderful twist straight out of the gate, folks!" Hux enthused. "Unlike last time, where the Council carefully chose each candidate, Ben wants to make it as unbiased as possible and have a complete random selection process." Rey smiled at that. Pure random lottery essentially guaranteed her life would be unaffected by tonight's events.

Hux made small talk for a little bit longer with Ben, and then stood and made his way to a large table with twelve different enormous glass bowls on them, filled with little pieces of paper. Ben's face appeared in a little window in the corner of the television screen; they would be broadcasting his reaction to each selection as it happened.

"First we will select the candidate from Naboo." There was a pause while Hux dove his hand in and swirled it around in the bowl. He grabbed a slip, and withdrew his hand. He made a great flourish of unfolding the paper, and gave the camera a little smirk to drum up a little drama. "Freya Fenris!" He finally announced. He turned the slip of paper around and displayed the name as well as a wallet-sized copy of the photograph to the camera. She was beautiful, blonde and you could tell just from her eyes that she was strong-willed but kind. Rey had the fleeting thought that this Freya would make a good queen. If all women were this beautiful and poised, she imagined Ben would have a difficult time.

The candidates from Corellia, Riosa, Endor and Hosnia were selected. Four more beautiful women pulled out of glass bowls. In their respective homes, each girl was probably celebrating with her family about the chance to win prince Ben's heart and become royalty.

"Next will be our lovely lady from Coruscant...Bazine Netal!" Hux displayed yet another posh, refined woman. Her photograph depicted a brazen woman with an almost-smile on her face, as if she had already won the contest and was taking a victory photo.

At that point Rey was just about done caring. She turned to Maz and was about to start complaining about how this Bazine character just looked like a terrible human being when--

"Rey Kanata, our beautiful contestant from Jakku!"

Rey whipped her head around back to the tv screen, not believing her ears. She missed seeing prince Ben's reaction in the corner of the screen.

Neither Rey nor Maz paid any attention to the rest of the announcements.

The phone started ringing.

And didn't stop for the next three days.


	3. Chapter3

Over the weekend, Rey could hardly catch a break from how often the phone rang; people from the palace called to confirm appointments, give instructions, and offer congratulations. A few people from around town called or came to visit those first couple days after the announcement.

If Rey heard one more person tell her how lucky she was, she was going to pull her hair out. The one person she hadn't heard from was Finn. She had texted him that night, and called him several times the next day, but he was unresponsive on all accounts. She was planning on accosting him at his house the next day in order to get a chance to talk to him.

That opportunity never came. Monday morning, at seven a.m., there was a loud banging on the front door. Rey groaned and coaxed herself awake. Hoping it had just been part of her dreams, she laid there for a minute longer, unwilling to move. When the banging resumed, she cursed under her breath and finally crawled out of bed. She donned a robe over her tee and sleep shorts, and ambled down the stairs and answered the door.

"About time! Those etiquette lessons we're going to put you in can't come soon enough." a short man with mousy features brushed right past Rey and into the small kitchen.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Rey inquired mid-yawn.

"I am Dopheld Mitaka, and I am your assigned escort to the palace. You can call me Mitaka. I am here to make sure you adhere to every little detail and requirement between now and when you arrive in Alderaan. Probably some after that, seeing as you are in desperate need of help."

Rey gave him a look of pure shock. Who did this guy think he was? "Well, Mitaka , the call we got from the palace said you weren't going to be here until nine. You've interrupted my beauty sleep." She bit back at him sarcastically.

"Oh no, honey. Your first official interview is at nine; I'm here to get you ready. I'm no stylist, but I've brought a couple Crown-approved outfits that will work for this. I trust you can style your own hair?" He began filling the tea kettle with water and then rummaging through their cabinets for tea.

"Yes, do make yourself at home." Rey let out before she could swallow the words. She knew she probably shouldn't be talking in that manner to a palace official, but who was this guy and why was he such a morning person? Mitaka just turned around and looked at her, but didn't dignify her comment with a response. Then he nodded upstairs, indicating she should get ready.

Rey grumbled, grabbed the garment bag Mitaka had brought in with him and trudged up the stairs. By the time she returned downstairs half an hour later, Maz had joined Mitaka in the kitchen, sipping tea and making small talk. Her mother turned when she heard footsteps, and stopped mid-sentence.

"Oh child, you look wonderful." Even Mitaka looked pleased. Rey had selected the powder blue day dress, with cap sleeves and the finest linen material she had ever worn. It had intricate white detailing around the sweetheart neckline, fitted through the waist and then an A-line skirt to the floor. Mitaka had even thought to bring shoes, though how he knew her shoe size when it wasn't on the application was beyond her.

"Thanks, mom. I noticed there were no pants options, Mitaka." Rey took a clumsy step forward - having never worn heels before, she was about as confident on her feet in that moment as a baby taking their first steps.

"Nonsense, you're a lady now. Ladies don't wear pants." Mitaka responded, while ushering her into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "Now, I think I am safe to assume you have had no formal training or public speaking skills." Mitaka pulled out a padfolio and clicked open his pen and started scribbling.

"Well I did go to school, I don't know what you mean by training…" Rey fidgeted in the seat. She couldn't get comfortable and was leaning back at a strange angle against the back of the chair. Maybe the dress was just a stitch too small.

"That answers my question well enough. My advice: speak as little as possible. The interviewer is going to want something juicy to sell to the tabloids, try to form the public's opinion of you before you even walk into the palace. Being from...Jakku," he says with barely concealed distaste in his tone, "people from other provinces expect you to act like a neanderthal so just stick to the facts, keep it simple, and don't forget to smile and wave."

"Ok. Sounds simple enough." Rey admitted. What she didn't admit was that she was far more nervous now than she was this morning. She knew her life was going to change; she didn't realize it had already happened.

"Now, let me set out some rules and expectations for your time in the palace." Mitaka began to switch gears. "First. The Choice has no timeline. You might be there for three weeks, you could be there for three years. Next--"

"Three YEARS?!" Rey jumped out of her seat. "I thought the last Choice was only eight weeks?"

"Calm down; it's unlikely it will be three years, but you should be mentally prepared just in case. The Choice operates on the prince's timeline. If he needs that long to make a decision, he will take it. However, I don't see that happening. This is one of the first opportunities for the prince to demonstrate his leadership abilities and conviction. He will not want to linger and appear like an incompetent decision maker." Rey looked a little relieved at that.

Mitaka pressed on. "You are not to seek out time with the prince. He will send word when he wants to spend time with you and initiate all interactions you have. You are allowed to approach him if he is spending time with the group at large, but do not approach him otherwise. You and the other girls will each have your own quarters and attendants, and during the day will be occupied with etiquette lessons, spending time with the queen, and will be allowed free time for reading or other dignified hobbies." Rey opened her mouth to speak but then Mitaka cut her off. "You may not have any of these hobbies now, but you will have to find an activity dignified of a lady once you are in the palace."

"Fine. That sounds doable." Rey didn't know how on earth she was going to be able to sit still for days on end, but it didn't sound like she had much of an option.

"Oh, by the way," Mitaka continued, "You are not to tell the prince 'no.'"

"What do you mean by that Mitaka?"

"Well...and I will try to put this delicately...if you are with the prince and he wants to kiss...or more than kiss...you are not to refuse."

"You've got to be kidding me." Rey objected. This prince! Who did he think he was! This man, who grew up having everything handed to him, entitled prick, who thought that he could just walk into girls' rooms at any time of the day or night and just take what he wanted ? She had always held contempt in her heart for the prince and all his privilege, but this was entitlement on another level entirely.

Even Maz piped up at this point. "Surely he wouldn't do that, he seems like the ultimate gentleman," she countered.

"Well, we like to think so, but regardless, if he asks, you shall oblige." Mitaka stood up from his seat. "Now, Rey, if you'd like to pack any belongings - you won't be needing any of your clothing, but if there are certain keepsakes you'd like to bring with you, I'd pack them now. Your interview is in fifteen minutes."

The interview went well...ish. The reporter certainly asked questions similar to what Mitaka had prepped her for, trying to bait her into brash behavior. She almost took it once, when they mentioned for the fifth time how lucky she was to be getting out of the hellhole that was Jakku. She may not have been proud of the place she called home, but that didn't mean any outsider was allowed to trash talk it.

Rey checked her phone again after the interviewer left the house.

Still no texts from Finn.

She got up and started walking towards the door; she was going to confront him.

Now.

Before she could get two steps, however, Mitaka walked down the stairs with her small suitcase. "Oh, glad you're ready to go!" He said, and made his way to the door.

"Go? I thought…" Rey stammered. She thought they had more time.

"You thought nothing, my lady." Mitaka interrupted. "We've got to be at the transport center in just a few minutes. I expect there will be a big crowd to see you off." He opened the door and headed out to the government vehicle parked in her driveway.

Rey turned to Maz in the threshold of the front door, with tears in her eyes. Rey opened her mouth to speak, but Maz shushed her before she could get a word out.

"My child, I see the fear and distrust in your eyes. I want you to be open to this. For me. I always knew your destiny was beyond this place."

Rey wiped the tears from her eyes, refusing to cry when she wanted to be strong for her mother. "I will make you proud, mom. And I will get back to you." The mother and daughter embraced, and Maz stepped away first, allowing Rey to wipe away any tears that escaped.

With one last hug, Maz gave her a wink and headed back inside, while Rey made her way to the car.

She looked out the window the entire drive. If everyone knew when she was leaving, maybe Finn would be there and she would get to at least wave goodbye.

She sent him one more text message before her phone would be handed over to Mitaka when they got to the station. No phone allowed in the palace - government secrets and spoilers for the contest - she assumed. She couldn't keep her eyes off the screen, but no message or call ever came through.

All too soon, they arrived at the transport station. Mitaka was right, he had to help carve a path for her to walk from the vehicle to the main terminal building along with local police, there were so many people. Rey remembered Mitaka's advice and tried to smile and wave all around her, all while keeping her eyes peeled for Finn. Why was he giving her the cold shoulder? He knew she didn't want this.

Nevertheless, she put on a brave face and marched her way towards the terminal building. In that moment, she decided something. She wasn't going to hold a grudge against the lottery. She wasn't going to pine for home; she always wanted better for herself and her family anyway. And for Finn. She resolved to figure out a way to stay as long as possible. She still couldn't give a flying fart about the prince. But if she could figure out a way…

"Hang on, Mitaka. What about mom? What about my livelihood while I'm away?" Rey pulled his sleeve so they stopped in the middle of the walkway.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I must have told Maz that before you came down the stairs this morning. My apologies, my lady." When did Mitaka get so polite? He had been so sassy to her this morning. "The Crown will be compensating your mother with a weekly allowance during your absence. It's nothing extravagant, but it will keep your mother comfortable."

Well, that solved it. She would stay as long as possible so her mother could get as much of the allowance as she could save. Perhaps Rey could hide away food in her suitcase, so that when she inevitably got asked to leave she could take home extra portions. She could do this.

She would do this.


	4. Chapter4

It was only once Rey was officially on her way to the palace that she let herself feel any nerves.

This was not how she expected her life to change; she thought maybe she'd be able to move into a better part of town, maybe manage or own the garage one day after Plutt kicked the bucket. Not get whisked away to Alderaan and have to play nice with people she'd rather never cross paths with. What would the palace actually be like? Would she be bored out of her mind? Would she get along with anyone? Or would she spend five minutes in the castle and then be kindly asked to pack her things and go?

Rey continued to ponder just how she was going to survive these next few weeks when the plane touched down in Alderaan. She was guided off the plane and before she could even get a good look around her she was ushered into a large, armored vehicle.

"Why the precautions?" Rey turned to ask Mitaka once they got situated in the car.

"Well, my lady--"

"When did you start calling me 'my lady?' You know my name is Rey."

"Yes, well, Miss Rey , we want to take every precaution to ensure every lady of The Choice is fully protected at all times. You are the property of the Crown now, and we keep a close watch on our property." Mitaka explained. He looked exasperated, like he couldn't believe it was his job to handle Rey and not some other, more docile contestant. However, Rey had a feeling that there was more to this story than he was letting on. She didn't press, for now.

"Okay then. So Mr. Tight-Schedule, what happens now that we're here?"

Mitaka proceeded to explain that all the girls had staggered arrival times based on where they were traveling from; some, like Dana from Alderaan, who didn't have far to travel at all, or Ariel, who had to travel all the way from Bespin. Luckily, Rey's travel time to the palace was only around three hours by plane. Long enough to let the nerves get the best of her, but not long enough that she would be overtired when she arrived.

Rey was to arrive around mid-afternoon, so there would be some time for her to settle into her quarters. All girls had separate rooms on the same wing of the palace, each with their own private bathroom. Each lady was assigned an attendant, and a stylist, who would help with all of their needs during their time at the palace. Once all the ladies arrived, they would convene in the front parlor for a welcome reception with all three members of the royal family; this would be their first opportunity to meet Prince Ben.

When the car pulled up to the front gate, Rey's mouth dropped. The royal grounds were a sprawling, grandiose spectacle. It seemed to extend for miles, surrounded by beautiful gardens. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Her jaw remained on the ground as the car stopped, was unloaded, and she and Mitaka made their way up the paved walkway to the front doors.

The property seemed like a dream, not where she was actually going to be living. As they made their way inside to the foyer where a swirl of activity was happening around them, Rey's eyes couldn't focus on one individual thing. People in uniform flitted back and forth, in and out of rooms all around her with linens, trays of food, or talking with others as they moved on to their next task.

The grand staircase in the foyer provided her with a vantage point from where she could see the landing of the second floor.

As her eyes swept towards the upstairs, they locked on none other than the Prince. He was walking down the hallway of the second floor, deep in conversation with an older gentleman.

While naturally her gaze was first drawn to seeing the prince in the flesh, she fixated on the other gentleman. He was incredibly tall with a bald head and a limping gait. At that moment the man looked up, as if he could feel Rey's piercing stare. His face was disfigured from the front, and his eyes were haunted. He gave her the slightest of nods, and then pivoted back to his conversation with the prince, leading him away from view.

Rey felt a shiver pass through her and she wrapped her arms around herself. Whoever that man was, she did not have a good feeling about him.

"Well my lady...Miss Rey, I mean. If you are quite ready, let me show you to your rooms." Mitaka had finished coordinating with a woman in the foyer, and had gathered her small bag in his hands and began walking to the staircase. Rey shook the lingering haunting feeling from her body and followed Mitaka towards her rooms.

Wait.

"Rooms?" She clarified.

"Well yes, I've told you this at least twice now Miss Rey, each lady receives her own quarters. At the palace, that constitutes a small sitting room, a bedroom, and a bathroom." Rey again felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her. How was there this much excess and luxury here?

"Well, Miss Rey, I'll leave you to it. Last thing though, I am going to need your phone." Rey wasn't surprised by this; she had known back in Jakku they were probably going to confiscate her phone at some point. She tried to retort, but didn't even open her mouth before Mitaka stopped her. He was getting good at anticipating her reactions, and they'd only known each other one day. "Palace rules. Can't have you spoiling secrets or snapping pics. Not that we expect you to, just a precaution. You'll have it back if you are asked to leave. Now, I have other business to attend to around the palace more than just making sure you're in the right place at the right time. I will be back to collect you in three hours for the welcome reception. Your attendant will be up here shortly to introduce herself and help you out. Please try not to give her as much attitude." Mitaka excused himself and walked out the door.

Rey waited maybe five minutes to make sure he was gone and then made a break for it. She was going through information and sensation overload. She snuck down the front stairs unnoticed and stole away out the front door. She wandered around the side of the massive brick estate to one of the side gardens, found a bench, and sat herself down.

Rey took in everything that was around her. There wasn't a whole lot of greenery in Jakku; in fact, grass was hard to come by in the brown, desolate wasteland she called home. As she looked around, the lush greenery and flowers overwhelmed her. She had never seen this much green in her life. Rey let herself slow down and feel everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. So much changed for her in such a short timespan; she had never spent more than a day separated from Maz, and Finn had ignored her ever since her name was called for no reason. It dawned on her that even if she immediately went home, her life would be changed forever. Her status would be elevated solely from being associated with The Choice, and life from here on out would be very different from what she was used to. Her eyes welled up with tears at the thoughts flying through her brain, when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't expect anyone to be out here." A deep, velvety baritone voice boomed from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

Rey recognized that voice. She turned quickly and saw none other than prince Ben, standing a few feet from her. He was the last person she wanted to see right now, even if she was supposed to be trying to impress him.

While she knew he was tall from all his time on the weekly Reports, she hadn't entirely realized his overwhelming height. She was tall for a woman, but he still towered over her.

What she noticed next was how… built he was. The camera did not illuminate his strong physique, and that took her by surprise. His appearance threw her off her equilibrium. For a moment she forgot that he was responsible for her situation. She looked up at his face, acquainting herself with his features. She had to admit, once again, that he was striking. However, she couldn't let herself linger on his strong jawline, or his amber eyes, or how his features somehow all came together in a unique but alluring way. Wait, alluring ? She shook her head and snapped back to reality when he spoke again.

"I didn't mean to impose. Are you okay my lady?" He inquired, keeping a respectable distance. For some reason, this question brought her fully back into herself and her anger switched back on.

"No, of course I'm not okay. I've been plucked out of my home, stuffed into a dress, and traveled multiple hours to a strange new place. My phone's been confiscated, I'm in foreign surroundings, and I can't even get five minutes to myself without being interrupted. So, I'm sorry, Your Highness , I'm not in the best of moods right now." She panted from the exertion. She didn't care that she'd just mouthed off to the Prince of the Republic, though she should've been worried he would immediately put her in a car and send her right back to Jakku.

Then, just to make her blood boil a little more, he chuckled .

"I'm sorry you've had such a rough day, darling." The prince tried to conceal his smile. "Though I would love for you to cheer up. You've only just arrived after all, and you're my guest. And please, just call me Ben. You don't have to call me Your Highness, especially when we are speaking privately."

"Oh I bet you would love that. I'll hurry up and do exactly what you say," she bit back with sarcasm. "And! I'm not your darling. We all know we're not technically allowed to say no to whatever you ask of us. But I will tell you this right now, Sir , I refuse to be taken advantage of."

"Taken advantage of? What on earth are you talking about?" Ben responded, completely bewildered. She detected a look of offense and confusion pass over his face. Rey couldn't believe what she was hearing. How dare he pretend he doesn't know?

"Don't pretend you don't know exactly what I'm talking about. Despite what they told me, you're not getting in my knickers whenever you damn well feel like it, I don't care that you're the Crown Prince of the Republic!" She heaved.

"Get in your knickers? What kind of person do you think I am?" Ben sputtered out. He seemed completely taken aback. He took a couple steps forward towards Rey, but that was the last straw. In her fury and panic, thinking he was making a move on her already , she reared up her right hand and slapped him hard across the face. He staggered backwards, bringing his hand up to his face, his eyes betraying a look of hurt that Rey read immediately as more emotional than physical pain. Still, she was too worked up to care. He had ruined her whole life and had the gall to act like they were having a mild tiff about the weather.

"Now. If you'll excuse me, I'll find somewhere else to just go cheer up, per your request." Rey stomped away, refusing to courtesy as etiquette would normally demand, leaving Ben behind with a shocked look crossing his features and a slight blush creeping up his cheeks, hand still on his face, staring at her as her figure retreated.

Damn it , Rey thought to herself as she climbed the steps back up to her quarters. She'd just guaranteed herself a one-way ticket home.


	5. Chapter5

This day was never-ending. In one day, Rey had woken up in her home in Jakku, traveled to Alderaan, fought with the crown prince himself, and was now sure she was about to be sent right back home. Without surprise, thirty seconds after she walked into her room there was a knock on her door.

Let's get this over with , Rey thought to herself as she opened the door. However, instead of the palace guards she expected, there stood a petite, asian woman with a big smile and an even larger garment bag.

"Hi, I'm Rose, and I'm so excited to meet you my lady!" Rose started as she pushed her way into Rey's room. Rey stepped back, allowing her in, with a confused expression written all over her face. Were they going to dress her in an outfit of shame before they escorted her out of the palace?

Rose must have seen and misinterpreted Rey's expression, because she quickly spoke up. "Oh I'm so sorry my lady, let me explain. I am your personal attendant. I'll help you get dressed and ready for the day, turn down your bed in the evenings, fetch you anything you need while you're here. There's a button on the wall right by the door." Rey turned, mouth agape, looking at the wall and indeed saw a button there next to her lightswitch. "Just push that if you ever need anything, even a midnight snack, and I'll be able to accommodate it for you! Now, I've brought this dress along for you to wear to the welcome reception this evening. You'll get to meet your stylist tomorrow, he'll go over ideas and thoughts for future events and daywear but considering we're just meeting you now, he had to come up with something just based on your picture. Sorry, I know I'm rambling. Well, here it is, go ahead and let me know when you have it on and I'll help with the zipper!"

Rose handed off the garment bag to Rey, who was still too shocked that she wasn't being kicked out to move. She just stared at Rose, who had started unpacking Rey's bag and tidying up the already spotless room. Rose looked up from what she was doing and spotted that Rey had not moved. "My lady! If you could please go ahead and get dressed, I'd love to have time to fix up your hair and makeup before you are expected downstairs." Rose then returned to what she was doing.

Rey, in a daze, wandered into the bathroom. She hung the garment bag on a hook that was on the back of the door and delicately removed a stunning tea length emerald dress from the bag. She slid the dress on, the fitted sleeves coming down to her elbows and the neckline sitting just under her collarbone. It was modest and very appropriate for her "first" meeting with the Prince. The dress cinched at her natural waist and flared out to the knee. A lot of effort for someone who will be eliminated after the welcome reception . She appraised herself in the mirror. Whoever her stylist was, she would have to thank them. At least she'd be escorted out in style.

She timidly exited the bathroom, wrapping her arms around herself, suddenly self-conscious. Rose looked up from her position in the sitting room and her face lit up in excitement. "My lady!" she exclaimed, while getting up and heading towards the bathroom door.

"Please Rose, call me Rey. 'My lady' feels...too formal. We're not that different after all, you and I."

Rose blushed a little at that. "Well, lady Rey, I will work on that. Can't make any promises of course; we're well trained on how we should address people. Now, you look absolutely beautiful in this. I'll make a note to work green into your wardrobe as often as possible!"

Forty minutes later, after some coaxing by Rose to apply some makeup and a brush to her hair, Rey was collected and escorted to a large parlor at the front of the estate. It seemed nearly everyone had gathered by the time she arrived; there were ten other young women milling around, with light piano music playing in the background. Rey found the table with the champagne and made a beeline for it. She had never tasted the drink, unable to afford such a luxury back home, and wanted to make the most of her time here. She delicately lifted a glass off the table, and found herself wandering towards the corner where she could keep to herself and watch the women around her. Everyone else seemed so polished and refined. Rey needed to come up with a better plan to secure her stay here. If she hadn't been asked to leave yet, maybe there was still a chance. Perhaps she could pull Ben aside during this reception and beg for forgiveness.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door flew open and a tall, extremely beautiful women with long black hair came traipsing in like she already lived here. Rey recognized Bazine immediately from her photograph from the lottery night, when her whole life had changed. She didn't want to have anything to do with Bazine then, and she certainly didn't want to have anything to do with her now. She took another step backwards away from the main door, when she ran into someone that was standing behind her.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" Rey apologized as she turned around. She had run right into Kaydel, the candidate from Dulathia.

"It's quite alright! Hi, I'm Kaydel, it's so nice to meet you!" She extended her hand and Rey took it, feeling the genuine kindness emitting from Kaydel. Rey admired Kaydel's demure look as they were chatting; she had a very similar dress in length and style, but hers was a pale yellow. It complemented her skin tone and dark blonde hair color, which was styled long and straight. They began to chat quietly between the two of them, but after only a minute or two another beautiful, middle aged woman with a shock of purple hair walked into the parlor.

"May I have everyone's attention please? My name is Amilyn Holdo and I am, for all intents and purposes, the boss around here. I am in charge of all of you ladies during your stay at the palace. Everything from your sleep schedule to your daily itinerary, myself and my team have planned it all meticulously. We will get into the details of your daily activities another time. The royal family will be here in just a minute, and I'd like us to all line up to welcome them properly. Now, don't forget, everyone must curtsy to each member as they greet you. Once they have greeted everyone, you can resume your conversations. I know you are all very eager, but please let them approach you, and please don't swarm them. Now, come round to me." There was shuffling as all the girls moved up to where Amilyn was standing, and fanned out into one line spanning the length of the room. Rey was thankful she managed to stand by Kaydel.

The twelve ladies did not have to wait in anticipation for long. Only a minute or so after they were lined up, the doors to the parlor opened once again. This time, King Han walked through followed by Queen Leia, with Ben bringing up the rear. Each member of the royal family stopped in front of each lady, exchanged bows and curtsies, and moved on as was proper protocol. When Rey exchanged pleasantries with Han, he gave her a little wink before moving on to the next girl. She was comforted by the gesture, though confused why he would pay her any special attention. Leia followed shortly behind, and after their respective curtsies, Leia clasped her hands with Rey's and thanked her for being here.

When Ben approached, Rey curtsied as per required of her, but was reluctant to meet his eyes. She wanted to speak with him, to apologize for her outburst earlier, but she was embarrassed and afraid to see his reaction to her presence, realizing she had been out of line. Plus, if he eliminated her immediately, she wouldn't be able to cash in any weekly allowances for Maz. Mercifully, after a few seconds of Rey refusing to make eye contact for fear of a confrontation, Ben moved on and introduced himself to Kaydel. She heard the trill of Kaydel's voice as she introduced herself, and cursed internally at not being able to act like a normal human being in front of the prince. First she was yelling at him, then she couldn't even properly introduce herself. If she had any hope of having a normal interaction with him to try to lengthen her stay, she had to get creative.

After all the introductions, the crowd dispersed some and Rey went back to standing with Kaydel. Eventually they split apart, and Kaydel went to get a drink from the refreshment table. Rey retreated back to the corner, not quite ready to mingle with the other women. She did, however, keep trying to catch Ben's eye. Though she wasn't supposed to crowd him, she thought if she could make eye contact, he would come over and she could choke out her apology. Humility was not always Rey's strong suit, but she had motivation to be here.

But he did not once speak to her. Not when they were standing on opposite sides of the refreshment table; Rey had looked up and Ben immediately looked away and struck up a conversation with the woman next to him. Gwen, she thinks her name was? As time passed, she grew more and more disheartened. He was actively avoiding her, probably so he didn't do anything rash and embarrass her further in front of all the other ladies.

When the reception was over, her and Kaydel walked together up the stairs back to their quarters. Luckily, their rooms were side by side. She didn't trust easily, but she felt like Kaydel was someone she could confide in.

To her surprise, when Rey reentered her room, Rose was still there. She had turned down the bed, laid out the fanciest pajamas Rey had ever seen, and brewed some chamomile tea.

"Rose, this is really too much. You didn't need to do any of this, I'm sure I could have found the pajamas in the armoire. Shouldn't you be able to take breaks?"

"My lady--I mean, Miss Rey, you are too kind! This was nothing at all, I am here to serve you. It's not so bad, there's a lot of downtime depending on your itinerary," Rose responded, almost upset that her aid was too overwhelming.

"Well I've never been someone who was in any position to have someone 'serve' me, so I apologize if I offended you! I am just trying to get used to things, this is a massive change from what I'm used to. I would rather be your friend than your lady, maybe we can work out a compromise?" Rey suggested; she certainly didn't want to insult Rose with her resistance to being fawned over.

"That sounds wonderful, my...Rey." Rose beamed. "I feel lucky to be working with you. My sister Paige is Bazine's attendant. I know it's only been one day, but she already has a terrible reputation with the staff. I can't wait to gloat! Now, the bath is already drawn for you. Breakfast is at 8:30 am tomorrow morning; I'll come to make sure you're awake and help you get ready. After breakfast I believe you'll meet with your stylist before Ms. Holdo has you reporting for etiquette lessons."

"Rose, I already don't know what I would do without you, there is no way I could remember all that on my own. Thank you so much for everything. Please! Go and take your rest as well, I command it!" Rey giggled at the ridiculousness of her 'order,' and Rose laughed as well.

"Very well, Miss Rey. Please don't hesitate to hit the button if you need me, but otherwise I will take my leave. I hope you sleep well!" Rose excused herself, and for the first time since Rey woke up this morning, she was blissfully alone with her own thoughts. As she bathed and prepared for bed, she pondered what she could say to the prince, if she ever got the chance, in order to convince him to let her stay. Surely she had stepped all over his ego and insulted his existence, so her argument would have to be good. She'd have to somehow make herself invaluable, and indisposable. She'd have to…

And then it hit her. She knew exactly what she was going to do.


	6. Chapter6

Rey was at breakfast with all the other women, and she had never seen so many choices before in her life. This is a long way away from plain toast , she thought to herself as she tucked in to succulent smoked sausage and the fluffiest scrambled eggs she'd ever laid eyes on. Her eating habits earned her a few appraising glances from some of the more sophisticated contestants; ones who had been raised in high ranking families who could afford cotillion classes and other refined activities. There was speculation among the ladies as to where the royal family was; they had been led to believe they would be dining with the family at most of the meals. Rey was about to turn to Kaydel when the doors burst open to the dining room and Ben stormed in, Leia closely behind him. Han was nowhere in sight.

Ben ignored everyone around him, sat down at the head table, and began to eat. Rey kept watching, too entranced to pay attention to the conversations around her. She observed Leia attempt to start a conversation with Ben on three different occasions. Each time he refused to acknowledge or engage with her. She was just about to turn back to her breakfast and mind her own business when Ben's eyes snapped up to meet hers. Embarrassed, her cheeks flushed at being caught, but not embarrassed enough to look away. They stared at each other for a moment, and, while keeping her gaze, he lifted the napkin, wiped his mouth, and then stood from his seat, finally breaking eye contact only once he was standing.

"Ladies, I am sorry for my tardiness and my lack of hospitality this morning. I do hope you will all be able to forgive me," Ben announced to the room. There were noises of assent and reassurance throughout the room; of course none of the women would be bothered by that. He was a busy man and they were all vying for his affection; surely he would miss the occasional breakfast.

"I had the pleasure of speaking with most of you last night." At that Rey rolled her eyes to herself, knowing he had intentionally avoided her. "I wanted to thank you all again as a group for pausing your lives to come spend time with us here in the castle. I vow to take this process very seriously. I believe that my future wife and queen is in this room, and so while I promise not to waste your time, I plan to be very thorough in getting to know each and every one of you." Ben looked out across the room, and then unceremoniously sat back down and returned to eating. Slowly the conversation resumed, and shortly thereafter breakfast was over. The girls all started to collect themselves and head back to their rooms when Ben stood again.

"Miss Rey Kanata, a word please."

A few girls paused and looked at Rey on their way out, a mix of jealousy and curiosity crossing their faces. Rey knew better though. She knew what was about to come, which was why she knew it was time to enact her plan. She turned around and curtsied to Ben.

"Your Highness," she finished her curtsy and tried to look as innocent as possible as she peered up at the prince. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

"Would you accompany me on a walk, Miss Kanata?" Ben offered her his arm, and she took it. Better to be let down in private, maybe I'll be able to speak my peace first, Rey thought to herself as they exited the castle. They descended the stairs and went east from the front doors of the castle, a tense but somehow simultaneously amiable silence between them. Whether it was intentional or not, he led them to the place where they first met, where she'd reamed him out in a moment of stress and anxiety. Rey figured it would be poetic justice, for their only conversations to ever happen here. Still silent, Ben led her over to a bench tucked away under some of the foliage, and they both took a seat, a respectable distance between them.

"Lady Rey I--"

"Your Highness, I--" Both of them tried to speak at the exact same time, and abruptly stopped at the same time. Rey looked down and wrung her hands together, while Ben cleared his throat and ran his hand through his hair.

"You first, my lady."

Rey took a deep breath and looked back up at Ben. Up close like this, she couldn't help but notice new things about him she hadn't noticed previously. Namely, the smattering of moles across his neck and face that she had never paid enough attention to before. Everything about his face seemed to have been meticulously designed, a divine creation while not fitting into Jakku's typical definition of traditionally handsome. She continued to stare at how all his features were in harmony, as if each mole was intentionally placed in conjunction with his strong jaw and sophisticated nose to create...the face that was now staring at her because she had been looking at him for the last forty-five seconds without a word coming out of her mouth. She shook her head to try to snap out of it, and took another deep breath.

"Don't get rid of me. Not yet, at least," Was all she could muster. She watched his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline in surprise. She assumed he was surprised she would be so blunt without any pleasantries. As a result, she pushed forward and continued before either she ran out of courage or he interrupted her. "You see, I know I was out of line yesterday in the garden, yelling and humiliating you and...well. You know. So I know that I have effectively put myself out of the running. I'm surprised you haven't had me arrested for assault yet, to be honest. But hear me out. Wouldn't you love to have a pair of eyes on the inside? Someone who can suss out people's true desires and intentions towards you? I could be your secret spy."

"What's in it for you, Miss Rey?" Ben countered. He hadn't outright refused immediately, so Rey was hopeful her plan might actually work.

"I plan to enjoy the food until you kick me out." That got a chuckle from Ben. "I'm serious. The food back home is nothing like it is here. I still haven't actually fully comprehended how there is so much food and in such a variety. In Jakku the options are very limited." At that Ben carded his hand through his hair again, and worked his jaw, almost like he was swallowing his words. He looked uncomfortable hearing Rey's admission, so she rushed to keep talking. "Not that we're starving at home. It's just, you know. The basic necessities more often than anything. I don't think I've ever had such a delicious chocolate croissant before this morning. Or chocolate at all, for that matter. Do you think we could make chocolate an everyday occurrence? Not that I'm making requests. Maybe with the allowance we all get to send home, mom can buy some for special occasions."

Rey realized she was rambling, and had shared way more than intended. She clamped her mouth shut, eyes wide, staring at Ben.

I never ramble, what's happening to me, she thought to herself.

Would he connect the dots and realize that yes, while the food was part of why she wanted to be here, her desire to help him find his one true love was not altogether altruistic?

"So, you are proposing that I keep you around, with no desire for a romantic connection. Effectively taking away a spot from someone that might have developed feelings for me otherwise?" Ben asked, the side of his mouth quirking up in the semblance of a smile. He was humoring her, that was good.

"Yes, exactly. No one will know that I'm your secret confidante, and you'll get all the inside scoop on what goes on when you're not around."

Ben sat back, appraising her and mulling over her offer. "And you, you think you have no chance at romantic feelings for me?" Ben asked. His expressive eyes showed a little hurt in them, which Rey took to mean he was simply surprised there was someone out there who didn't worship the ground he walked on. That it was inconceivable that not every woman would immediately fall at his feet.

"I'm afraid that's very unlikely, Your Highness. Not a whole lot of time for romance in my life." She glanced at Ben, who was looking down at his hands and working his mouth again like he was trying to hold back words. She was quickly beginning to realize that was a nervous gesture.

"And I truly am sorry for my outburst yesterday. I cannot say it enough how out of line that was. I know what I am proposing and asking for is incredibly selfish and unconventional, but please consider my offer and hopefully we can have a great working relationship together for many weeks to come." Rey had finally said everything she had set out to, and silence enveloped them.

Rey's glance darted between her fingers and Ben's face. He looked deep in concentration, and she was a little uneasy knowing he was deciding her fate right in front of his face. After a minute of awkward silence, the trickling of a fountain in the distance being the only sound they could hear, Ben stood up and turned to Rey.

"First, please call me Ben, I meant it when I said it. Especially when it's just the two of us. Your Highness is too formal. Second, you need better negotiation skills. Anyone else would have tried to get a lot more out of me than to just continue having meals here."

"So you're not sending me home?" Rey asked, the hope apparent in her voice.

"Contrary to what you might have believed this morning, Miss Rey, in my mind, we're not done yet. Yes, it was...embarrassing to get dressed down by a total stranger when I'm not sure what I did to earn it. It means you have no problems being honest with me, which I appreciate. As you might imagine, not everyone is always willing to be truthful with me all the time. It's like they are walking on eggshells around me, not wanting to disappoint or disagree with me. And I can't stand it. So yes, I will take your offer, and hope that we might even become friends out of it. What do you say?" Ben offered his hand to her, and she only briefly hesitated before taking his hand with a nod. He helped her stand from her position on the bench. He looped her arm through the crook of his elbow, and they began their walk back up to the palace.

Rey simmered in her thoughts as they walked quietly back to the front door. He hadn't seemed upset with her in the least. In fact, he seemed, from their unusual interactions, to be a normal person. Did she have the wrong impression of him all this time?

Her first full day in the palace passed by in a blur. After her return to her castle, she was ushered to the ladies' room. She learned this was where the contestants would be spending most of their days. An expansive room that was bigger than her whole house and Finn's house put together.

Finn .

She wished she still had her phone. Or any way to contact him for that matter. She thought back to what Ben had said earlier.

You need better negotiation skills . Maybe she could ask him for her phone back, even just to make a phone call to Finn, or to borrow a phone in the palace. So much had happened the last couple days, and she didn't like how they had left things — unsettled and without a proper goodbye. If she could just contact him, she could tell him how much she missed him, and ask him to help look after Maz in her absence. Hopefully he didn't resent her too much; she certainly hadn't asked to be here.

"Hey Rey! How was your conversation with the prince?" Kaydel interrupted her thoughts and sat down on the chaise lounge that Rey had been occupying while staring out the window.

"Oh, better than expected I suppose. I assumed he was going to ask me to leave, so I'm just relieved to still be here."

"What did you guys talk about? I'm dying to know! All the girls are jealous, especially Bazine. You got the first alone time with the prince!" Kaydel gushed. Had it been anyone else, Rey would have clammed up. But since it was Kaydel, she relaxed a little bit. She laughed to herself; if she was going to be a successful confidante to the prince, she was going to have to stop being so skittish around everyone.

"It was nothing, really. Don't tell the other girls, but I actually ran into the prince yesterday too before the reception --"

"You WHAT?!" Kaydel yelped. A few of the other girls looked up from their conversation, but Rey shushed her and they all returned to their activities.

"Yes, but you can't say anything! I was incredibly overwhelmed when I got here, and I escaped out to the gardens just to have a moment alone. He snuck up on me, and I kind of yelled at him."

"You yelled at the prince??" Kaydel whisper-screamed.

"And...maybe...slapped him too," Rey conceded. Kaydel's jaw dropped to the floor. "So yeah, you can imagine I spent most of our conversation apologizing and begging not to be sent home for my misconduct. I can't believe he agreed."

"I can't believe you did that! You really are a spitfire, I couldn't imagine anyone else doing that. Your secret is safe with me." Kaydel looked at Rey, giving her a conspiratorial smile and a wink. "Well, while you were away with the prince, you missed Holdo's announcements for the day. We have etiquette lessons this morning, and then after lunch we all get to meet with our stylists and talk clothes! I'm especially excited for that. Now, Holdo's about to start the etiquette lesson, so let's go join everyone else. I've been talking to Tiana a lot this morning, let's go sit next to her."

Rey followed behind dutifully to where all the ladies were gathered and were sitting in chairs set up in a semicircle, all facing where Holdo was now standing. Rey was determined to turn over a new leaf and try to make friends with these girls. Her stay here depended on it.

She sat and introduced herself to Tiana, and quickly learned she would get along with this girl about as easily as Kaydel. Tiana was also from Corellia, which is where King Han was from. Rey was sure she would have an advantage there, striking up a conversation with Ben since they would have a common topic to start with. Rey would have to keep that in mind next time she spoke to Ben, if she really did get another opportunity. Tiana and Kaydel were good people, people she could see doing well here.

Holdo called them to attention and started going into their first lesson.

Proper posture was the topic of their lecture, which Rey didn't necessarily think needed to be a whole lesson. However, with the number of corrections she'd gotten in the first two minutes of the class, maybe she should accept some training. She looked around, and noticed that Bazine had focused her gaze on Rey. And it was anything but friendly.


	7. Chapter7

After the etiquette lesson, which was one of the top five least favorite things Rey had ever done in her life, the girls dined together for lunch and then were dismissed to their quarters in order to meet with their stylists for the first time.

Rey, who was used to wearing the same six grey and tan outfits over and over again, did not know what to expect in this meeting. There just wasn't extra time or money for such luxuries back home when they often had to wonder if they had enough food for the week.

The thoughts kept running through Rey's mind as she made her way up the grand staircase to her rooms. Why had Bazine given her such a scathing look during the lesson?

During the lottery drawing Rey certainly didn't have the warmest thoughts towards the woman, but they'd not spoken three words to each other since arriving, so what was Bazine's problem? Was she vexed because Rey already had alone time with the prince? Rey shook her head to herself. If only Bazine really knew what their conversation consisted of, she wouldn't feel the need to stare daggers at Rey.

Rey huffed a breath, and then entered her room. She'd come to expect Rose's presence in the room and welcomed it. She was surprised to see a man in her room, though she quickly realized this must be her stylist. He stood up from the small armchair in her sitting room and made his way towards her. He was about her height, with a beautiful caramel skin tone and deep black curly hair that was perfectly styled but artfully messy at the same time. He was dressed sharply, tight black slacks and a light grey button down shirt with a red ascot around his throat.

"Hi, I'm Poe." The man extended his hand.

"I'm Rey," she responded, taking the proffered hand. He kissed it and bowed slightly.

"I know." He straightened up and smiled at her. "I heard you were a knockout at the welcome reception, so we are definitely going to keep a lot of green in your repertoire. Do a little spin for me real quick if you don't mind — no, a little slower — perfect. You have a really slim figure, which I think will work great with a lot of the designs I have in mind for you. But we'll definitely stay away from anything too frilly or puffy, and while I think you could pull off any color, we'll probably stay away from yellows for the time being. Now, hold still, I am going to take some measurements. I'll have several day dresses made like the one you are wearing now, and six or seven evening gowns. We guesstimated on your size and had a couple gowns prepared for you, so that you'd have something to wear on the Report later this week, but we might have to tailor them just a tad."

Rey tried on the gowns that were already in her bureau for Poe, and they carried on easy conversation while he took notes and pinned certain areas of the dresses.

Rey learned that he had lived in the palace with his mother Shara, for his whole life. She was one of the seamstresses, so he had spent a lot of time as a child around beautiful clothing. He stayed out of trouble by sketching, and one day, when he was eleven years old, Queen Leia had come through to check in with all the seamstresses and tailors, and found one of his errant sketches on one of the stations. After that, she had insisted he attend schooling lessons with the prince, as well as additional private lessons on art and design. Once his schooling was finished, he became one of the official stylists of the royal family. Rey smiled to herself upon learning about his upbringing. She had to admit, these people were turning out to be not quite as snobby as she assumed.

"So, if you were in lessons with the prince for all those years, surely you know what he's really like?" Rey inquired; to everyone else, she had to make it seem like she was just as interested in the prince as the other contestants. But she was genuinely curious; if she was going to help him find the right match in a wife, she needed to know all about him.

"Ah ah, someone is trying to wiggle for some insider information," Poe teased. "I love a good gossip session though, I can't resist. I'm sure you've noticed from all his appearances on the Report, but he's a serious guy. Introspective, quiet. He's always been like that, but I think it's gotten worse since he's taken on more royal duties and spent more and more time with the Council. Especially Snoke. I swear that guy is bad news, but he has the most clout with the other council members. Only Queen Leia can stop his initiatives if she doesn't agree."

Snoke. Rey wondered if it was him she saw walking with Ben during the very first moment she was in the palace. It seemed like a fitting name for someone who gave her such immediate chills.

"How did he get to be in such a powerful position?" Rey asked.

"Not quite sure. It was like one day he wasn't here, then the next he was. We think he was a friend of the family, fought with the queen's brother Luke in the war. Luke started out on the council, decided government was not for him, and moved away to be a recluse. He still visits every now and then but the royal scene isn't for him. I think Ben took it pretty hard when Luke left; they spent a lot of time together when the Prince was younger, and then having Luke leave that way, put him in a bad spot for awhile. So I think this will be good for Ben, for awhile at least. Maybe he'll remember how to smile and have some fun." With that, Poe rolled up his measuring tape and small notebook where he had jotted measurements and stashed it in his back pocket.

"Now my darling, I would love to stay and keep chatting, but I must be off so that I can get these designs out of my head and into action. I want you to be the best dressed of them all!" Poe bowed to her slightly, which Rey was still not used to, and took his leave. Why did everyone insist on calling her darling ?

Unfortunately, Rey had yet to receive any further instructions on what she was supposed to do for the day. There were still a couple hours before Rose was due to come help her get ready for dinner. Not that she needed help, but she felt bad always dismissing Rose when it was the girl's job to help Rey get ready and maintain her rooms. Plus, she enjoyed Rose's company; she didn't know what the other girls' attendants were like, but Rey was sure she had the best one.

However, she wasn't going to call Rose to her room just because she was bored and didn't have anywhere to be. She knew she was supposed to wait to be collected, but she assumed no one would miss her if she did a little bit of exploring. She was never one to really sit idle, anyway.

Ten minutes later, after wandering the expansive hallways of the palace, Rey stumbled through a door that she thought would take her to another antechamber or ballroom, but instead she found herself in a massive garage.

It had to have been about ten times the size of Plutt's garage back home. As she fully entered the space, her eyes landed on several cars, each one more pristine and beautiful than the last. What she would have given to work on any one of these cars back at Plutt's. She never thought she would miss that place, but the homesickness was starting to return as she gazed upon the vehicles, in different brilliant colors of red, green, blue and white.

She reached out her hand to graze the hood of the nearest one when she heard a clanging sound at the far end of the garage. She froze. While they didn't explicitly state the contestants couldn't wander in their free time, she was sure it was probably forbidden; she was in the private garage of the royal family.

She heard some soft cursing, and then footsteps heading her way. Before she could decide whether or not she could find a hiding spot, King Han stepped into her line of sight and stopped mid-trek to his work table. She was paralyzed, both of them regarding each other, before she realized her place and curtsied. To her astonishment, he waved her off and rolled his eyes as he continued his jaunt to the table with his toolbox.

"No need for that malarkey, kid. Never cared for any of that royal etiquette mumbo jumbo anyhow." Rey's mouth opened and closed several times, gaping like a fish, while she scrambled to come up with something to say. This was the King , surely there was some requisite for decorum around the King of the New Republic? Though, she found she'd rather not have to worry about the right level of curtsy or how to properly address someone for even just ten minutes. It was exhausting trying to remember all the rules.

"What are you working on, your Majesty?" She inquired.

"It's Han. I hate being called that. You know how to use a socket wrench?" Rey nodded vigorously, and Han handed it to her then walked away. She had no choice but to follow. "The Falcon just needs a tune up." They arrived at a beautiful Tesla Model YT Falcon. A company that existed before the Great War, and was defunct now, so it really was limited edition. Rey admired it, with its sleek hood and flawless gray paint job. She walked a full circle around the car, admiring it from all angles before turning back to Han.

"It looks perfect, what needs tuning up?" She asked. Han didn't respond, but merely lifted the hood and leaned over. Rey sidled up next to him, any shyness from being around the King gone now that she was looking at this amazing car, and noticed — "Half the engine's missing!" She exclaimed.

"Well yeah, kid. They don't make this car anymore. I've had her for a long time, but eventually the parts just wear out and need replacing. It's hard to find them. So I come here and I rebuild her. Helps me get away from all the political nonsense." Han resumed his tinkering, grunting here and there. Rey's mood had turned on a dime. Here, she was in familiar territory. Here, she felt like herself.

She noticed Han struggling to loosen one of the bolts, as indicated by his grunts.

"Here, let me." Rey edged her way into the best vantage point, dove on in, and loosened the bolt with ease. She grabbed it and straightened up, handing him the bolt with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, kid. I know you gotta spend time with all the girls, but I could use your help down here if you ever wanted to. You're not so bad." Han smirked, tossing the bolt up in the air and catching it with a flourish. "Though you might need to find some different clothes next time." He jerked his head towards Rey's abdomen; she had gotten a smudge of grease where she had leaned against the car.

Great , Rey thought to herself, Poe's going to kill me.

Suddenly, they heard a loud noise from the other end of the room. Han looked past Rey towards the source of the ruckus, lifting a hand in greeting. "I never see you in here, Ben," was all he said.

Rey's stomach flipped; she assumed she was going to be in trouble again. She turned around to meet Ben's eyes, and noticed he had a slight smile on his face as he approached.

"Father, don't you know it's not proper to steal the girls away from their duties?" He said with a touch of humor in his voice, eyes not leaving Rey's. She heard Han grumble something behind her, and she remembered herself and faced the King. She thanked him for allowing her to crash his sanctuary, to which he returned a slight smile not unlike his son's.

"No worries, kid. Whenever you need an escape, well...you know where this place is. I'll let Ben take you back to wherever I'm sure you need to be." Han waved them off and turned back to the Falcon. Rey turned back to Ben, who looked a little deflated. Was he disappointed that he had to babysit her again? Or was he trying to talk to Han and Han was waving him off?

Ben schooled his expression and flashed a smile back at Rey. His eyes flicked down her body, stopping at the grease spot all over her stomach. He shook his head minutely, blissfully keeping his thoughts to himself but not able to stop the smirk appearing on his face. "Well, darling, should I take you back to your rooms? We have some time, we could go on a walk if you'd like. If I remember, you like it outside in the gardens."

Rey didn't even bother to hide her eyeroll, but accepted his proffered arm nonetheless. "I am not your darling," she bit out as they made their way to the exit of the garage. She was sure she heard Han chuckle behind her, and she felt a mix of pride and embarrassment at her continued outbursts towards Ben.

Once they were clear of the garage, Ben started up conversation. "How are you finding the palace, now that things have settled down some?" He ventured.

Rey took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. Spending time with Ben, while not as vile as she thought it would be, was a necessary evil at this point to keep her paychecks and future meals coming. "It's been wonderful. Rose and Poe have been such a delight to be around, and there are a few other girls in the Choice that I get on with really well too. You have some good prospects, I think," Rey answered truthfully. "Not to mention I've had some of the best meals of my life these last couple days." That garnered a chuckle out of Ben.

"Well I'm glad you are getting along with the other girls," Ben conceded, as they made their way out the front door and back into the gardens. They found their way to the bench where they had their heart-to-heart just earlier that day. Surely he should be spending more time with the other women? Had he spent any one-on-one time with them yet? He fidgeted with his collar, running a hand through his hair. Rey could tell he was nervous again. Why did she make him so nervous? Or was he just really not used to interacting with women that he didn't know how to act? So many questions were running through Rey's mind that she couldn't quiet her own thoughts.

"I'm glad I ran into you in the garage, actually," Ben started back up. Rey fixed him with an inquisitive look, and he continued. "I was thinking, if you're going to be my eyes and ears on the inside, as it were, we probably need a more...informal way of communicating." He looked at her with what she interpreted to be a hopeful face.

"What do you mean by that, your Majesty?" Rey let the formality slip before remembering he didn't like being called that. What was it with the Solo men and not wanting to be called by their titles? "Ben, I mean." He smiled at the sound of his name.

"I mean. In the formal courting of the Choice, it is expected that I send letters to the women, asking for their company at a specific time and place, and receive a written affirmation or declination. I think that would take too long for us. If you have something you need to talk about, or if I do, we need a faster way to meet up." Ben ran his hand through his hair again. Her eyes were mesmerized by the movement. She knew it was a habit of his, whether he realized it or not, and she was surprised when her thoughts strayed to imagining what his hair would feel like between her fingers.

"What did you have in mind?" She asked as she cleared her throat, dispelling the thought of his hair from her mind.

"I was thinking maybe some sort of a signal? Like, if I need to talk to you I could...run my hand through my hair or something and you could reciprocate, and I'll find you at the next possible chance."

Rey actually laughed out loud, further humored by Ben's puzzled look. "I don't disagree with you. But it certainly can't be you running your hands through your hair."

"Why not?" Ben asked, completely perplexed as to why that seemed an unreasonable idea.

"You've done that exact motion 3 times in the last twenty minutes, that's why. I'd never know what was real and what was a nervous habit." She watched him process this information, and lift his hand to run it through his hair again. He stopped when his hand was halfway to his head, and laughed as he realized exactly how correct Rey was.

"Okay, fair enough. I see I've been called out. So no hands through hair. What about ear tugs?" He mimicked tugging his ear. "On second thought, no, definitely not ear tugging."

"Well why not? That seems inconspicuous enough."

"I...heh." Ben paused. "I don't need to draw any extra attention to my ears." Rey looked up and saw the tips of his ears that were poking through his hair turning red. She thought they were endearing if she let herself dwell on it. Which she definitely wasn't letting herself dwell. Maybe she could tease him about them later.

"Okay, so no ear tugging, got it," She giggled. His ears reddened further at her giggle, and she took pity on him. "What about biting your thumb? Subtle enough that people wouldn't wonder why you're pulling at your ear, but distinct enough we wouldn't confuse it for anything else," Rey offered. She demonstrated, pulling her thumb into her mouth and nibbling lightly on the edge. Ben's nostrils flared a bit at the action, and he cleared his throat, swallowing as if his mouth was suddenly dry.

"I think that's a fair compromise. Thumb bite to signal the request for a meeting." They shared a small smile, having settled on the plan. Rey thought again to herself about how Ben was turning out to be the opposite of everything she expected, and how quickly they seemed to have built a camaraderie. She looked around the beautiful gardens, not sure how to fill the peaceful silence that had fallen between them.

"So, tell me about your family back home. If we're co-conspirators, I would like to get to know you better." Ben broke the silence, casting a glance her way, an earnest expression on his face.

"We certainly don't wear our tiaras to breakfast," Rey snickered. Ben looked amused too, and her cheeks pinked at the continued positive attention from him. "It's just Maz and I at home, my dad passed away when I was very young. Too many hours in poor working conditions, and all that." She noticed his slight flinch at that. Good , she thought, he should know how bad it is out there for people . "But we manage okay. I make decent money at the garage. Maybe when this is all over Plutt will let me back. I bet he'd make more money with a girl from The Choice in his employ." At that, the flinch turned into a grimace on Ben's face. She wondered where she misspoke. Perhaps she was too clairvoyant and was already predicting her exit from the competition. "Not that I'm in a hurry to leave, you know that." She was sure she was mistaken, but she thought Ben perked up at her admission. "You know, I'm dying to try some chocolate cake," she clarified, winking at him.

Ben shook his head slightly, like he was clearing his mind. "Chocolate cake," he chortled, "any other requests my darling?" He smiled, appearing to look put out by the request but not masking his amusement.

"Now that you mention it…" Rey got a mischievous twinkle in her eye, ignoring his endearment for now . "What are the chances of me getting my phone back?" She waggled her eyebrows, trying to be convincing.

"Nope, sorry, no budging on that one. Can't have you telling the world how boring I really am," He teased her, but she could see in his eyes he was a little bummed that he couldn't fulfill her request.

"Okay, well...what about pants? You certainly can't expect me to wear these dresses all the time. It's so stuffy here and the dresses don't help. I love Poe already, he's amazing, but I can't do anything in these things!" She pointed to the grease stain on her dress as evidence. "He's going to kill me when he sees that."

"Now that I may be able to do something about. It wouldn't be every day, but let me see what I can do about it, darling."

Rey was simultaneously thrilled and exasperated. An audible groan escaped her, exasperation at the pet name winning out.

"Why is it you detest being called darling so much?" He looked over to her with genuine curiosity in his eyes.

"Do you call the other girls darling?"

"Yes I do. They all seem to love it."

"That's exactly why I hate it."

Ben seemed taken aback by the blunt confession. He worried his jaw back and forth, but nodded. "Duly noted. You certainly don't have any problems speaking your mind." He stood up and offered his arm to Rey. "I should get you back to your rooms, I think they will be calling for dinner soon and I'm sure Rose would rather be caught dead than to let you keep wearing a dress with a massive grease stain on it." The corner of his lips lifted in a half-smile. Rey accepted his arm, but was stewing on his last comment about speaking her mind the whole walk back to the palace.


	8. Chapter8

The week passed in a flurry of activity. Rey had been the center of attention for all the wrong reasons in each of their etiquette lessons. Who knew there was a correct fork to use with your salad versus your cheesecake? Whenever she wasn't attending horrible lessons, she spent time in her room with Rose. Rey and her attendant had become fast friends, bonding over life beyond the palace walls. She hadn't run into Ben at all the rest of that week except at mealtimes. He did interrupt sessions in the Ladies' Wing a couple times throughout the last few days; first to collect Fianna, then Natalya for dates. Rey hadn't had the opportunity to get to know either of those ladies very well yet, so she was glad he was taking the chance to form his own opinion of them.

Friday morning arrived, and with it a weird, frenetic energy spread throughout the Ladies' Wing. Rey entered the room, noticing all the girls were spread out trying to remain calm. Bazine was flipping through the channels of the television on one side of the room, Gwen was standing rigidly by the window staring out at nothing in particular. Kaydel was sitting on a chaise lounge in the middle of the room, and beckoned Rey over when she saw her. Rey sat down on the end of the chaise, Kaydel shifting her feet to accommodate her friend.

"How do you feel about tonight?" Kaydel asked, trying to appear nonchalant as she flipped through the pages of a magazine.

"Honestly, more nervous than I thought I would be."

"Why's that?"

"Oh come on, Kaydel. You've seen me in class."

"Oh, don't be silly! You're so nice to everyone, but you don't take shit from anyone. The public is going to love how genuine you are. I just know it!"

"You're too nice," Rey responded. "They've probably forgotten all about me since our arrival. They're going to love you though! You're so well-spoken... For all my fake niceness, yours is real. The prince would be lucky to have you." Kaydel blushed at Rey's compliment, turning back to her magazine.

"At least we won't have to do a ton of talking tonight. From what I hear, Hux will be mostly interviewing Ben. We just get to look pretty," Kaydel said, flipping the magazine closed. Their involvement aside, every girl was nervous about their first live appearance on the Capital Report.

Simultaneously too soon and not soon enough, Holdo swept into the room to give them all some much needed instruction.

"All right ladies, listen up! Tonight you will all be featured guests on the Report. This will be the public's first glance at you since the selection. You are all familiar with the layout of the show, and tonight will not be much different. First, Armitage will discuss topical updates with the King and Queen, and then we will move to his time with His Highness. That will take up the majority of tonight's episode. Then, we will bring you each up one by one, and you will have a couple short minutes to talk with Hux. Don't worry! He'll just ask you a couple questions about home, your time in the palace, etcetera. If you will all head to your rooms, we've got coaches coming to meet you all, in addition to visits with your attendants and stylists who will get you ready for tonight." Holdo finished her announcements, and looked down at her clipboard, indicating everyone was free to disperse.

Rey and Kaydel made their way out of the wing and to their quarters, parting ways to head to their rooms. Rey was surprised again as she entered her suite to see Mitaka sitting at the chair by her desk. It seemed the palace had no end to keeping her off her balance. She was glad to see him, to be sure, but assumed he had only been around to make sure she got to the palace in one piece.

"Mitaka! It's so great to see you!" She said and curtsied. Surely that was the right thing to do, right? Mitaka rolled his eyes at the gesture, tutting under his breath. Apparently not the right thing to do, then.

"You've been in the palace a week and you still haven't learned anything important," he grumbled, standing up from his spot at her desk. "My lady," he bowed. He was allowed to bow but she wasn't allowed to curtsy? Her mind reeled from the rules. "I am here to help you prepare for your first appearance on The Report tonight, obviously. You may have had some lessons here and there, but it's evident that we have some work to do to get you ready to speak in front of a national audience."

Mitaka and Rey spent the bulk of the afternoon rehearsing answers, proper posture, ladylike manners, and even how to properly walk from the assigned seating of the Chosen to the interviewer's "hot seat." About halfway during the intensive session, Poe waltzed in for a last fitting for her dress that evening. Rey welcomed the distraction; she had been ready to strangle Mitaka for the last twenty minutes simply because he kept insisting she wasn't smiling correctly.

Poe draped the garment bag over the bed. Mitaka and Rey both stopped their conversation, and looked over at him while he hummed loudly to himself, unzipping the bag.

"Do you mind?" Mitaka asked tersely. "Lady Rey and I are trying to prepare for this evening."

"Yeah, bud. I've got to prepare her for this evening too," Poe said, not even sparing Mitaka a glance. He whipped a gorgeous, floor length violet and black gown from the garment bag. Sleeveless with a halter neckline and purple floral embellishments from the neck down to the hem, the dress cinched at the waist and flared out in voluminous layered skirts.

"Oh Poe it's magnificent!" Rey gasped, marveling at the dress. She walked over and touched one of the ruffled flowers on the neckline with a dainty finger.

"It's the least I could do for my favorite contestant," Poe said with a wink. "You have to outshine everyone else, I demand nothing less!" He hung the gown over the door of her wardrobe. He turned around and fixed a pointed stare at Mitaka, who returned the glare before eventually huffing an over-exaggerated sigh and standing up.

"Well, Lady Rey--"

"Just Rey, Mitaka. We've talked about this," Rey admonished, but the amused eyeroll she gave him betrayed her teasing.

"If you insist...Rey. I will be at the recording should you need me, but otherwise, best of luck tonight." He bowed slightly to Rey, jerked a nod in Poe's direction, and headed out the door. He crossed paths with Rose in the doorway, and she stopped to curtsy on his way out.

Rose and Poe took over everything in the subsequent hours, primping and prepping Rey for the evening. She was still not used to being dressed and made up to any extent, let alone in these extravagant outfits, but she wouldn't trade her time spent with these two. They whisked her hair back into an elaborate chignon, and added very delicate studs in her ears, since Rey was not used to the expensive statement jewelry so often worn by the other girls. The three of them got on incredibly well, and before she knew it, it was a half an hour before The Report was due to start.

Poe escorted her to the studio inside the palace, which contained the set that was always used to film the weekly Reports. Rey was yet again astonished by the sheer vastness of the palace. Just when she thought she had seen everything, a new wing or a new room was revealed to her. She wondered what other secrets the palace was hiding.

There was a flurry of activity already happening around her when Poe dropped her off at the studio. Most of the girls had assembled already, checking each other for finishing touches on dresses or making sure there was no lipstick on their teeth. Rey gazed around the room, digesting the scene in front of her. She had seen this room hundreds of times on her television throughout the years, but never had anticipated seeing it in person. Three stairs stood across from where she was standing. One each for the king, queen, and prince. To the right of their seats, and raised up one step, were two large, white overstuffed armchairs. This is where Hux would sit, and whoever he was speaking with typically occupied the other. On the other side of Hux's setup were several rows of stadium-style seating. This was new, no doubt added for the ladies of the Choice. The seating formed a semicircle, allowing the cameras to easily capture any combination of angles they needed.

Rey was still admiring the room around her when Bazine marched up to her, livid. Rey was confused at the unwarranted anger until she noticed that Bazine had bits of purple sprinkled throughout her dress. They weren't matching, not in the least, but there was just enough purple in Bazine's dress that Rey's gown was seemingly offensive.

"Take that dress off right now you piece of desert trash," Bazine bit out at her. "Or I'll take it off you."

"Absolutely not! Rose and Poe spent hours on this, we don't even look remotely similar!" Rey hissed back, venom in her voice to match Bazine's. Rey matched Bazine's death stare with her own, the two locked in a battle of wills. Eventually Bazine huffed.

"Fine. But don't think for a second I don't know your game, scavenger. It's only a matter of time before the prince tires of you and sends you away." Before Bazine walked away, she reached out and ripped off one of the flowers that adorned Rey's dress, a now gaping hole of black fabric showing through right in the middle of her chest.

Rey stood there, bewildered and fuming at the aggression shown to her. Clearly she wasn't a threat, why did Bazine think as much? She hadn't seen the woman target anyone else. The woman was sex on a stick— why did she feel threatened by anyone in this room? Rey mused that Ben surely would pick Bazine in the end, despite Re's building hatred for the girl; he just needed a pretty piece of arm candy, really, not a real wife. Rey shook her head and started making her way to the seating laid out for them. Due to her 'late' arrival, most of the seats in the first two rows were taken. That suited Rey just fine, knowing she wasn't going the extra mile to win favor with anyone, and took a seat in the back corner.

As she sat down, Gwen Phasma from Parnassos turned around from the row in front of Rey. "Bazine got to you too, huh?" Gwen asked without preamble. Rey gestured to her chest, where the purple fabric flower had once been and now there was just black fabric with strings hanging down. Gwen shook her head. "She didn't rip my dress at least, but she bitched at me for being too masculine for someone like Prince Ben to ever like." Gwen looked down at her hands, and Rey could tell that while Gwen would never let on, those comments affected her on a deep level.

"What did you say to her?"

"I told her to fuck off, and walked away." Gwen said, and reached up to Rey's dress to help her remove the hanging strings. "So I wouldn't worry about her. She's obviously trying to sabotage everyone's chances. The prince obviously likes you, or she wouldn't have bothered."

Rey smiled her thanks at Gwen's help, and let the words wash over her as last minute preparations took place before the program started. She spotted Mitaka in the corner, rifling through some papers. Presumably his other work, so she didn't try to catch his eye. Could the prince actually like her? Certainly that was an easy misconception to be made by the other girls - they didn't know how Rey's interactions with Ben had been thus far; if they knew, they would be just as curious as Rey as to why she remained in the palace. Only Rey knew about her deal with the prince, and it would stay that way.

The minutes ticked closer to seven, and finally a few minutes before the hour, she saw the royal family walk in from a doorway opposite the one that the women had entered. The king and queen looked picturesque as always, even if she could tell Han would rather be wearing anything but his regal getup. Ben followed shortly behind, taking in all the girls at the other end of the room as he entered. The three of them settled into their seats on the other side of Hux's chairs, and Rey happened to make eye contact with Ben. His eyes roved over everything he could see, which was admittedly not much since she was seated behind two rows of other women. While their eyes were locked together, Ben surreptitiously brought his thumb to his mouth and subtly bit on it—their secret signal. Rey subtly returned the gesture.

So Ben Solo wanted to meet with her. This should be good.

All too soon, the room quieted. Everyone was situated, and Hux made his appearance. The show started recording without a hitch; the girls' presence notwithstanding, The Report was a well-oiled machine. Hux ran through his routine introductions, the first part of his presentation flawless. He spoke to the royal family without either party rising from their seats, an air of casual rapport between them. He spoke most directly with Queen Leia, covering news updates from the week and different stories from the provinces. They talked of unrest in Parnassos, a province aligned with the old Empire. Gwen shifted uncomfortably in her seat at this news update; that was her home. Rey could sympathize; people automatically judged her for being from Jakku. Gwen probably didn't want to be associated with the political unrest while trying to vie for the prince's affections. However, Rey couldn't tell with some of the women which thing they were fighting for more; the title or the man.

Hux wound down his current line of conversation with the queen by standing and waltzing over to where Leia was seated, changing the subject. "Now, Your Majesty, I am dying to know, and I'm sure most of the country is too. Have you gotten the chance to meet these lovely ladies and what do you think of them? Does it bring back memories of your Choice process?"

Queen Leia gave him a playful smile, and answered diplomatically. "I have been able to meet all of these wonderful young women, and spend a little bit of time with each of them. The lottery produced a splendid group of women! I am, like everyone, excited to watch how things will unfold over the weeks and months to come." She looked over and clasped hands with Han, who gave her one of his signature lopsided grins. It definitely does bring back memories of our own love story. The scoundrel and the princess," she said with a chuckle. Hux placed his hand dramatically over his heart, and looking directly into the camera, said, "Awww. Ladies and gentlemen of The Republic, what a wonderful time to reminisce on our exquisite king and queen's love story. It is proof that this works! Now, Ben, you've been able to avoid the limelight for long enough. Come follow me back, and we'll sit and have a chat about the first week of the competition!"

Ben rose begrudgingly and followed Hux back to the pair of white armchairs. As he passed in front of the women, his eyes found Rey's and his mouth quirked up ever so slightly. Rey felt her face warm, uncertain how to interpret his attention. Mercifully, she didn't ponder for long as he assumed his seat next to Hux and they launched into conversation.

"So, Ben, tell me. How has it been this week— having twelve gorgeous women in the palace competing for your time and attention?" Hux asked jovially.

"Right to the hard questions I see, Hux." All the women giggled at his response. "It's been...overwhelming. As you're well aware, I don't have a lot of experience...courting women, so this is all very new to me. I'm definitely not complaining though," Ben said with a slight huff of laughter. "These women have been fantastic so far, and I am very much looking forward to getting to know them all better."

"So, tell me, if you can. Any standouts so far?" Hux needled.

"Oh Hux, you know that's not fair."

"You're right, you're right. In that case, have you kissed any of them yet?"

"Hux!" Ben sputtered. "They've only been here a week, what kind of man do you think I am?" Rey found his embarrassed response and flushed face endearing. As Ben talked with Hux, she couldn't help but think back to their first meeting. How she had grossly misunderstood his intentions, all hopped up on adrenaline and fear during their first encounter, her flight or fight response kicking in. Well, I always choose fight. She could tell now that it wasn't the prince's directive to require the ladies to do whatever he wanted, scandalous or not. But she pondered on where that would have come from, if obviously not from the prince. Was it a scare tactic? Her attention focused back on Hux.

"You are truly no help to me, Ben. Please, tell me something! Anything! Have any of the women done anything to set themselves apart? Names or no names? We are all dying to know the gossip," Hux practically begged.

"Well, now that you mention it. On my first meeting with one of them, I got quite a nice scolding. So that was fun."

Oh no. Oh no no no. Rey had to physically restrain herself from putting her head in her hands. He did not need to be saying this out loud. It was like he read her mind just a moment ago.

"Yelled at? What did you do, Ben!" Hux guffawed at the thought, shaking his head. "Maybe you should have taken some courting lessons first," Hux ribbed him, clearly enjoying this. "And I see all twelve ladies are still here, so clearly you haven't sent her home yet."

Ben smiled his first true smile of the evening at that. "No, I haven't. I plan on keeping her around for quite some time, in fact."

What did that mean?

"Well, how about that. Ladies and gentleman, apparently the way to this man's heart is through a good reprimand! Any chance you will divulge her identity?" Ben shook his head before Hux could even finish answering the question. "A man of secrets, everyone. Your Highness, I'd love to try to get more out of you but I have a feeling you won't tell me what I want to know. I'm going to send you away so I can speak to each of these wonderful prospects of yours and see if I can get any other details." Ben shook Hux's hand, stood up and went back to his seat.

One by one, the women took their turns in the hot seat, talking with Hux. Some were clearly already experts at schmoozing and public speaking, like Bazine and Freya, the contestant from Naboo. While Freya was mild-mannered and the epitome of poise, Bazine oozed sex appeal with every word that came out of her mouth. She even glanced back at Ben several times during her three-minute interview, winking at him so often Rey thought Bazine had a speck of dirt in her eye or something. Rey looked at Ben, and thought he looked uncomfortable with Bazine's antics. Then, there were other girls—like Ariel from Bespin and Kana from Kamino—who were nervous beyond belief. Hux managed to barely get twenty words out of them combined.

When Gwen started her interview, Rey swore she was flirting more with Hux than she had at any point with Ben so far. Rey admitted she could see the chemistry between them.

At the beginning of each new interview, Hux asked each woman if they were the girl that yelled at the crown prince. Without fail, each girl said no, with varying levels of relief and humor - as if they wouldn't have ever been caught dead fussing at the prince in any capacity. With each girl that came and went, Rey's anxiety intensified, knowing Hux would eventually ask the same of her.

Finally, and at the same time all too soon, Rey reluctantly stood up to make her way to the hot seat. She walked as carefully as she could across the open space in the middle of the set. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as she ambled up to the armchair to join Hux, but none as intense as Ben's.

"Hello Lady Rey! I am so happy you've joined me this evening," Hux started as if she had a choice to be here talking with him.

"The pleasure is all mine, of course." Rey was proud of that response. Perhaps the etiquette lessons were paying off?

"Adorable. So, Lady Rey, please enlighten us. What was it like to grow up in Jakku?"

Hux's question had been innocent enough, but Rey tensed nonetheless. Hux misinterpreted this as nerves. "Oh, you don't have to be nervous, my dear. We're just getting to know each other!"

Rey took a deep breath. She didn't really want to let these people in, not anyone in this room and certainly not strangers all over the country. But, she could focus on the happy memories. "It's just me and my mom Maz back home. We are thick as thieves, and I miss her greatly. We've got a great network of friends and steady work, so life was pretty good. Of course, it's totally different now," she giggled nervously. "Now if I go home I'll have to invest in extra cutlery to make sure I'm using the right spoon for my soups."

Hux laughed at that. "I imagine so! So transitioning to life in the palace has been a big change for you?"

He smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye, a stray piece of his perfectly coiffed red hair falling across his forehead. Rey had been nervous at first, but her and Hux hit it off like a couple of old friends catching up after a long time away. She talked more about the etiquette lessons, her drastic change in wardrobe, and of course, the food. Rey was nearly in the clear, until -

"So, one last question for you Rey. Everyone so far has said no, so I either know the answer to my question or someone is in denial." Hux smiled at his own little joke, giving the other women a glance and a wink. "Are you our mysterious woman that yelled at the prince?"

Rey exhaled, flattening out an invisible wrinkle in her dress. "Yes, it was me," she conceded. She saw Hux's eyes light up with the juicy gossip, and she was sure there was tittering behind her amongst the women, but she tuned it out and pressed on. "And I have since apologized! It was certainly not my finest moment. I'm appreciative to still be here." Hux seemed to like that answer, a broad smile crossing his features.

"You certainly do have a fiery spirit, my dear! I can see why Ben is keeping you. Thank you for indulging me."

Rey chanced a glance over to where Ben was sitting. He had an amused, goofy grin on his face, indicating he had enjoyed calling her out on that way too much. To her surprise, Leia and Han both sported delighted expressions, as if Rey's conversation had pleased them greatly. She went back to her seat, exchanging whispered words of encouragement with Gwen as she sat back down.

Rey barely paid attention for the rest of the telecast, focusing more on her introspection. So much had changed in such a short time. She went from resisting everything about this place, to adapting to a life in the royal keep. Barely seven days ago, she wanted nothing to do with the prince. Now though... After their interactions the last several days, she couldn't deny that he was nothing like she imagined him to be. All malicious feelings towards him had evaporated, replaced with...well, she wasn't sure what. She didn't know when it happened exactly, but she no longer dreaded seeing him. She was excited about the prospect of him coming to meet her tonight, after using their secret signal. She…

Rey sucked in a breath. She was developing feelings for the prince.

And she was positive he didn't feel the same. She was here as a formality. How would she ever be able to change things when she had staunchly placed herself in the friend zone, offering to be his inside spy?

Rey had gotten herself into a conundrum, and she wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this with her heart intact.


	9. Chapter9

Rey couldn't get back to her room fast enough after filming had concluded. In light of her revelation after her interview with Hux, she wanted to distance herself and take some time to gather her thoughts. Rose was waiting for her when she returned, like she always was, but Rey was quick to send her away. Rose began to protest, but Rey waved her off. It was routine for them at this point, so after a moment Rose smiled and wished Rey a good night.

Rey collapsed onto her bed, too overwhelmed by everything to even bother changing out of her dress. Poe had managed to create something formfitting, beautiful, and comfortable to boot. She was sprawled out, flat on her back while contemplating everything that had happened. She's had crushes before that never panned out. She was used to sucking it up and moving on. Why did this feel different, bigger somehow to what she'd experienced in her old life back in Jakku?

She was actively plotting ways to get over her crush on Ben while still maintaining their friendship when there was a light knock on the door, and then the sound of the latch opening. She was ready to wave Rose off again when a head of dark, slightly shaggy and still perfectly coiffed hair appeared in the doorway, followed by a pair of whiskey amber eyes, searching until they landed on her.

"Is now still a good time?" His voice, almost melodic, carried through the room to her ears. She sat up immediately, her back ramrod straight at the sound of his voice. She was surprised to see him, and then remembered their signal back at the Report. They were planning to meet this evening, and in her haste to make a getaway, she had completely forgotten. She was suddenly glad she hadn't changed clothes.

"Yes of course, come in." She stood up, draping herself across one of the lounge chairs in her modest sitting area.

"Where's your attendant?" Ben asked, scanning the room as he entered and closed the door, then turning to lean against it.

"Oh, I always send her home when I get here. I can change my clothes myself, she should be allowed to enjoy her evenings. Rose is fantastic, she takes amazing care of me. This way I can return the favor a little bit."

"Maybe I should get a guard to stand outside your door," he half-joked as a bemused expression crossed his face.

"What! I don't need a guard."

"You can never be too careful. If anything were to happen...someone needs to be nearby at least, in the unlikely event we were ever invaded or anything." He swallowed hard, working his way back and forth like she noticed him do countless times whenever he was tense or nervous.

"Maybe only at night, then. But I don't need a babysitter."

"Of course not." He agreed, his lips quirking up in the ghost of a smile.

She gestured for him to sit in the matching lounge chair across from her. He acquiesced, moving over and taking his seat. They stared at each other, an awkward silence quickly smothering the room.

"So…" she trailed off, unsure of where to go. He had asked to meet her, after all.

"So…" he echoed. The silence fell again, the two of them continuing to stare at each other, unable to come up with something to say.

"Is it the chairs? I think it's the chairs," Rey finally said, standing up and moving to the balcony connected to her room. The night was mild, a light breeze picking up every now and then. She sauntered over to the ledge, leaning her elbows upon it and gazing out into the gardens below. She heard Ben follow up behind her, coming to a stop at her side. She turned to look at him, the tension and awkwardness now gone as they were no longer in stiff chairs formally facing each other.

"You looked stunning tonight, Rey," He offered, his eyes raking over her features. She warmed under his appraisal. "I think you won over the entire country in just a few short minutes. Hux loved you, too. Very impressive first appearance, buttercup."

She had been basking in his compliments, not sure how to accept them, when she stopped dead at buttercup . Her face immediately fell from a soft smile to a hardened scowl at the term of endearment.

"Buttercup?"

He brought his hands to run through his hair. "Yeah, maybe not. It was worth a try. Sorry about that." They both chuckled, Rey rolling her eyes for good measure at his insistence on finding her a pet name. They talked for a few minutes about how the Report went, recalling the highs and lows. Rey shoved his arm playfully when he brought up her being outed on national television for yelling at him and laughed. She wasn't mad, not anymore. Any residual anger melted away the moment he'd walked through the door to her room. She was glad they were out on the balcony, away from the enclosed space that held her bed. She shuddered at the possibility of what could happen if her feelings were realized. If he felt the same. If they were the only ones left in the contest. So many ifs , she thought to herself.

At some point they had turned to face each other, instead of side by side gazing out towards the horizon. His eyes flickered down, first to her mouth, then to the spot with the missing flower on her dress. A brief look of confusion passed over his face, quickly smoothed over into his normal, neutral expression.

"Maybe you should have a talk with Poe. It looks like he missed a spot." His hand lifted from its position at his side, finger dropping to the spot with the missing petals. His finger had landed right on her sternum, and the minute he touched her, Rey felt an electric pulse jolt throughout her body at the sensation. She sucked in a breath, meeting his eyes and unable to move or think or breathe. He seemed to feel the same, unable to move at first. Then, his finger lightly traced the space where the flower should have been, sending goosebumps up Rey's spine as his finger trailed in the small circle.

Rey finally came to her senses. She cleared her throat, and took a single step back, away from his touch, turning to face the gardens again. She'd meant to ask him about his past experiences on the Report, how it felt to grow up in the palace, anything. But instead, what came out was--

"So, is it true?" She turns to look back at Ben. The lights in his eyes looked like they had dimmed slightly, as if he was disappointed she had moved away. His hand dropped back to his side.

"What do you mean?"

"Is it true that...you haven't kissed any of the women yet?"

"No, Rey. I mean, yes. I...uhh... haven't kissed any of the women yet." She turned back yet again to face him, needing to keep him in her direct line of sight at this confession. "I was kind of hoping…" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. His gaze fell from her face, looking down at his feet as all his nervous tics seemed to happen all at once. He worked his jaw at the same time he ran his hand through his hair again, and Rey's eyes followed his hand.

He looked back at her, a fleeting look of something Rey couldn't place passing across his face. All too quickly, he was closing the gap between them. Rey wasn't ready, didn't see him coming. He hesitated, almost nervous, centimeters from her face, for the briefest of seconds. Then his mouth met hers in the lightest of kisses, the softest caress of skin upon skin. Rey felt her nerve endings come alive, and pulled away nearly as soon as it began, bringing her fingers up to touch her lips. His eyes widened in alarm at her reaction, instantly backing up to give her space, stumbling over his words.

"Rey, I...I'm sorry if...shit I know you said…" he fumbled out, unable to complete an entire sentence. His hand came up to palm the back of his neck, trying to backpedal. Rey stepped forward, placing her hand on his arm to stop the nervous movement.

"It's fine, Ben. I was just surprised, that's all." She rubbed her hand back and forth along his arm in a soothing motion, the two of them having inched closer again. He gazed down at her, and she got the sense that he was bashful, nervous.

And then it hit her.

Ben wanted Rey to be his first kiss of the Choice.

"Ben, you've kissed other women before, right? Surely some foreign dignitary's daughter?"

His gaze dropped to his feet then, and Rey could see his ears tinged with pink again. He was embarrassed, the shake of his head so minute it was barely recognizable.

Oh. Oh.

Rey was floored. She had assumed so many things. That she had removed herself from the running. That she had placed herself firmly in the friendzone. That, with all the beautiful women here, she would never stack up. And yet here Ben was, wanting Rey to be his first kiss ever. Her heart fluttered as if it was made of butterflies.

"In that case, I think we can try again." His head snapped up at her response, and the right side of his mouth quirked up in a small smile that read like he couldn't believe his luck.

"Yeah?" He responded, his voice husky and quiet as their faces got impossibly close. A small shiver ran through her body and she closed the little space between them, her hand still on his arm. Their lips met in a chaste kiss, Ben's hands coming up slowly to cup both her cheeks. She felt a warm, tingling sensation travel from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, unable to keep the smile off her face even as they kissed. She broke away from him, the smile stretching from ear to ear as the tinge on his cheeks matched the color on his ears.

They slowly separated, staying well within the gravitational pull of the other. As they gazed at each other, refusing to break eye contact, his thumb swept over the apple of her cheek in a gentle caress. They stepped apart, Ben's hands falling from her face to clasp her hands in his.

"I've got to get going, but I'll see you tomorrow?"

She nodded in response, and he leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. He squeezed her hands once, and then took his leave, heading back into her room and out the door.

Rey wandered back into her room, her brain fuzzy like the static screen of a television as she processed what just happened. She quickly changed into her night clothes, crawling into bed and wondering where they would go from here. She laid awake for hours, unable to keep the smile off her face.

Rey was woken up the next morning by a gentle nudge from Rose. She had finally fallen asleep after hours of tossing and turning, and Rey said a silent thanks for being able to sleep in. She resisted any movements, refusing to get out of bed and face the day. Rose moved around her, opening blinds and rustling through the wardrobe. Rey heard a soft thud of something landing on her desk, and finally roused herself from her sleepy stupor, sitting up and stretching her arms over her head.

"What's that, Rose?" She asked, pulling her covers around her as she sat up and watched Rose move around the room.

"You'll just have to open it for yourself! I'm on strict orders not to spill the beans." Rose smiled at her, and then moved into the ensuite bathroom to set up a bath for Rey.

"Rose, you don't have to do that!" Rey yelled after her, as Rey climbed out of bed and put on her robe, padding over to the desk.

"If I didn't do this Rey, you'd put me out of a job!" Rose yelled back, the humor in her voice evident. Rey shook her head, a soft smile on her face. She ran her hand over the top of the large white box, tied with an ornate blue bow in the middle. She delicately unwound the bow, pulling the ribbon off the box and setting it to the side. She lifted the lid, placing it on the chair and reaching for the note on the top of the tissue paper.

As a reward for your negotiation skills. But, only on weekends please.

\--B.

She grinned at the note, remembering her attempts on one of their first meetings to get a hold of a cell phone. She knew what was in the box immediately, and tore through the tissue paper. Inside were the nicest pair of denim jeans she had ever seen. She lifted them up and out of the box, noting the fabric was nicer than anything she'd ever owned at home. She had a funny feeling Ben enlisted Poe to make these, and she had no doubt they would fit her like a glove.

Rose came back and saw Rey admiring her new article of clothing, and giggled from behind her.

"I think there are some blouses in your wardrobe, let me find them. I think I know who the front runner is at the moment," Rose said with a wink, brushing past to dive back into the wardrobe in search of the perfect top. Rey lifted another thank you that it was the weekend and she wouldn't have to wait to wear them.

She bathed quickly, eager to try on her new present. She slipped on the jeans with ease, the garment hugging her body perfectly. She pulled on the blouse Rose had selected, a baby pink peasant blouse with off the shoulder sleeves and a fabric overlay giving the top a layered effect over her chest. She looked in the mirror, feeling truly like herself for the first time since arriving at the palace. She gave herself a once over, noticing how flattering the pants were. She would have to thank Poe later.

As she entered the Ladies' Room a handful of minutes later, she could feel all eyes on her. She should have thought about the fact that she would be the only person not in a dress today, but she couldn't bring herself to really care. She picked up a book she had left there the day before, and sauntered over to the small reading nook that overlooked part of the palace grounds.

She had made some small talk with Kaydel, and a couple of the other girls, but was not really in the mood to socialize. Her head was still spinning from her time with Ben last night. She was lost in her book, curled up against the window, when she saw a couple blurs in her peripheral vision. She looked up, and was pleasantly surprised to see Ben appear on the grounds outside the window. She was, however, less pleased to see him stomping, the figure following him the same old man she saw her first day in the palace.

She watched Ben halt, spin around, fire in his eyes. Her eyes flicked back to the man, and she could tell instantly that this was not a conversation she should be observing. He had his finger raised and pointed at Ben, words no doubt spitting out of his mouth. Ben's face transformed from the fiery anger she saw initially to subservient and crumpled in a millisecond. The man placed his other hand on Ben's shoulder, finger still pointing at his face. Ben shook his head once, twice, and nodded once. Followed by the movement of his mouth, saying something. Rey wished she could hear through the walls, or could read lips.

The stranger raised his hand from Ben's shoulder, slapping it down once and giving him a small shake, and then made his way towards the palace entrance. Rey quickly shot her head back towards her book, worried that Ben would look up and see her watching.

Only a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Amilyn, who spent most days with them in the Ladies Room, stood up to receive the mysterious visitor.

"Oh, what a lovely surprise, your highness!" Amilyn exclaimed, stepping aside to let Ben cross over the threshold and into the room. His eyes scanned the room, nodding to all the women spread throughout the chamber. Rey caught his gaze, and immediately bit her thumb. He hesitated, blinking, before quickly bringing his thumb to his mouth and made a motion so swift it looked like he had swiped at his lip. She sat back, confused on whether he had actually made the signal back to her or not, then turned her attention back to Amilyn.

"Not that we're not happy to see you, your highness, but what brings you to us this lovely afternoon?" Amilyn asked, and Ben turned away from Rey to engage with Amilyn.

"I'm glad to see you too, Amilyn," He rumbled, and all the girls tittered in small giggles throughout the room. "I wanted to drop in and say hello to everyone, and actually came to see if Kana would like to accompany me on a walk?"

Rey frowned at that. He literally kissed her barely even twelve hours ago, and now he was asking a different girl out? She took a few calming breaths, remembering that he was here to find a wife, a partner. She had told him she wasn't a contender the minute they met, so she supposed he had to explore all his alternatives.

She found herself unable to concentrate on her book the rest of the afternoon.

After several hours of unsuccessfully distracting herself, Rey decided that she would wander back to her room and freshen up for dinner. That, and to see what Rose was doing. She liked to spend time with Rose more than she liked half the women in The Choice, even though she was supposed to, as a lady , spend all her time with them.

She rounded the corner of the hallway where her bedroom was, seeing a new figure posted outside her front door. She rolled her eyes, knowing that this was Ben's doing. But, she wasn't even there, why was a guard posted out there already? How long had this palace guard been watching an empty room? Something about the man's stature was familiar to her, but it wasn't until she was almost upon him that she recognized him.

"Finn??" She yelped excitedly, running the rest of the way and enveloping him in a large bear hug.

"Hey Peanut! They didn't tell me I would be outside your room!" He swung her around once, lifting her up off her feet in a circle before placing her primly back on her feet.

"How did you get here? When did you get here? How did you get here?" Rey's brain was firing off questions a mile a minute, repeating herself, and Finn just smiled and waited until she was done.

"That's what I was going to tell you, a lifetime ago in the garage when you told me you'd entered The Choice. I enlisted in the Royal Army. I didn't have my physical or anything at that point, I didn't know if I was going to be accepted or where I'd be sent, which is why I didn't say anything." Rey whacked his arm playfully, eyeing him in mock disapproval. Then she remembered the rest of that weekend.

"So my unanswered phone calls, you not being there when I left…"

"It happened so fast, Peanut. Your name was drawn, and the next morning two soldiers showed up at my doorstep to take me to basic training. I'm so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye. I wasn't sure if we'd ever see each other again."

Rey's eyes shined with unshed tears, a watery smile crossing her face.

"But here we are, together again."

"That we are. I just got here last week." Finn squeezed her shoulders, dropping his arms by his sides. "You don't look too shabby all cleaned up, though I'm surprised they let everyone wear jeans around here."

Rey blushed slightly. "Not everyone. I negotiated my way into winning jean privileges. I just got them this morning. You're changing the subject, though. Why did you enlist? Why didn't you tell me you were thinking about it?"

Finn grimaced, but recovered quickly. "Turns out they feed you pretty well in the military. And they provide for everything, especially since I'm stationed here. I'm able to send almost all the money I make back home. It's more than I was making at that old factory."

Rey definitely understood that. She was thankful for The Choice for those very same reasons.

"Looks like we've both had a glow-up, then," Rey teased. It was then that she heard movement behind her, and noticed some of the other women were making their way to their rooms to get ready for dinner, some pausing to look at Rey. She was getting tired of always being examined by the other women, and huffed as she turned her head back around to face Finn. "I guess I should be going, need to get ready for dinner and all. Are you stationed out here all night?"

"I've got a break in a bit, but I'll be back later in the evening for the overnight shift. Apparently you are a rebel and don't make your attendant stay with you, so now I get the pleasure of babysitting you," he teased. Rey stuck her tongue out at him, but was secretly thrilled. If she had to have a chaperone, she was glad it was her best friend.

Less than thirty seconds after walking through the door to her room and shutting the door closed behind her, she was ambushed by Rose.

"REY! What have you done to get a guard assigned to you personally?" She demanded.

Rey laughed. "It's because I don't make you stay with me all night. Ben was worried something would happen in the middle of the night. I told him you need your own bed, your own rest, that I send you away. This was his compromise."

Rose smiled brightly at that, like she knew a special secret and this information pleased her. "Well tell him good job, because that guard out there is really cute."

"Maybe I'll have to tell him that. You know, it's a small world because he and I actually grew up together. He's my best friend!" Rose got visibly excited at hearing that news too, jumping and squealing as if everything in the universe was lining up according to plan.

They continued to gossip about life in Jakku, Finn's family, and things here and there while Rose got Rey ready for dinner. Her day in jeans was wonderful, and she couldn't wait to repeat it, but they wouldn't be appropriate for dinner. Rose had pulled a knee length, form-fitting blush dress out of the wardrobe. The dress had long, billowy sleeves and had the right balance of softness and structure, and Rey loved it. She wasn't sure how she got so lucky to have Poe design her wardrobe, but she swore to enjoy it while she could, knowing it wouldn't be forever.

As Rose was brushing her hair, and their conversation had lulled, Rey remembered the fact that neither Ben nor Kana had come back at all that afternoon. Her stomach started to jumble into knots at the thought. They'd only had short, not entirely sanctioned visits together, borne out of coincidence. Maybe the kiss wasn't real, maybe Ben just wanted an easy person to practice on before he went out and kissed the other girls.

She pushed the thoughts away, knowing that dwelling on them would just make her feelings worse. She knew it to be true; their arrangement had practically guaranteed a mutually beneficial friendship, and nothing more. She tried to adjust her thoughts, hoping he'd had a great afternoon on his long date with Kana. Rey hadn't spoken to her much, but she had been nice enough.

Shortly thereafter, Rey received approval from Rose that she was ready to go, and she left to go grab Kaydel so they could make their way down to dinner together. They made their way into the room, occupying their normal seats next to each other. After a few minutes, the rest of the women filtered in, conversation starting as the food was served. Rey began eating with enthusiasm, as she did every meal, and after a few bites she was lamenting how tight fitting her dress was; for all its beauty, it was really restricting her ability to stuff her face.

"Where do you think Kana is?" Rey heard Natalya ask Kaydel. Rey quickly surveyed the room, chewing on her bite of pasta, and noticed Natalya was right. Kana was nowhere to be found. Ben wasn't there either, so Rey assumed they were extending their date into dinner, and she tried to stamp down her jealousy.

She was failing miserably at this when Ben waltzed into the room. He bowed to everyone, apologizing for his tardiness, and took his seat next to his parents.

Rey swallowed, scanning the room again. If Ben was here, but Kana was not…

The women around her also started to notice the same thing, and the chatter all turned to one topic.

The first contestant of The Choice had been sent home.


	10. Chapter10

The realization of Kana being sent home was like a bucket of ice water being poured over Rey's head. This competition was real , and the first casualty had finally arrived. Rey reflected on this fact that whole night and for the next three days after. She'd never had a single conversation with Kana, and she wasn't sure Ben had either. She figured it made sense. However, she couldn't get out of her mind the conversation she had witnessed between the old man and Ben. Did he have anything to do with this? She remembered the way Ben had instantly folded in on himself, and how, from the outside looking in, the old man appeared to have significant influence on Ben. Maybe she would try to talk to him about it the next time she saw him.

Which was seeming to be an impossible feat. For three days after Kana's departure, she tried to capture Ben's eye. At meal times, in the hallway, even in the Ladies' Room, but he refused to meet her eye every time. She was equal parts infuriated and self conscious; what had she done, why was he avoiding her? She resolved to stop letting her thoughts dwell on him. They may have had a moment, he may have made her heart melt a little bit with their first kiss, but he was still the Prince of the New Republic. And she was still no one from Jakku.

What made it worse were the things he was paying attention to during those three days. Or, more accurately, the people he was paying attention to. In that short span of time, he had called on Fianna from Hosnia, Ariel from Bespin, and Natalya from Riosa. Three dates . And all of those girls were still present and accounted for.

Even Rose picked up on her change in demeanor.

"Lady Rey, what's wrong?" Rose asked as she helped Rey get ready that morning.

"What do you mean, Rose?" Rey deflected, schooling her features back into a pleasant neutral expression. She thought she had successfully fooled everyone with her impassivity to her situation; apparently she had at least not fooled her closest friend in the palace.

"The other day you were so happy, but since then you've just looked...pensive. Almost sad. I just wanted to check in on you."

Rey felt a surge of appreciation for her friend in that moment.

"Oh Rose, it's so much. I didn't think I wanted to be here. And when I finally decided maybe I did want to be here, the prince started ignoring me and asking out all these other girls. I swore I didn't care, and yet…" she trailed off, looking at Rose's reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her friend was giving her a sympathetic smile, warmth in her eyes as she listened to Rey's concerns. "I shouldn't be bothering you with this! It's so trivial."

"Don't you dare say that, Rey! I can't imagine what it would be like to have to compete with nearly a dozen women for one man's attention, no matter who that man is. You want my two cents?" Rey nodded quickly, and Rose continued, "We all talk, the attendants. It's obvious to me you're his favorite."

Rey tried to shake her head in disbelief, to deny it when Rose stopped her before she could even start. "Don't even think about deflecting. You've gotten the most one-on-one time with him, he's gifted you with pants. I haven't even told the other attendants about how he's come to your room after dinner, but I can guarantee that hasn't happened to anyone else."

"That was just one time, Rose!" Rey balked, a furious blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"One time more than anyone else," she replied with a wink. "You've expressed your hesitation with being here to me, and to him right?" Rey nodded in affirmation. She'd put her foot in her mouth more times than she could count, telling him she didn't want to be here and could never love him.

"He's probably trying to find a Plan B, if I had to guess. I think he only has eyes for you, try as he might to find a suitable alternative. But he's holding out hope you might change his mind. If you don't, though, he has to have a backup, right?"

Rey continued to ponder Rose's words the whole morning in the Ladies' Room. They had a history lesson with Holdo, but Rey couldn't make herself pay attention. Holdo was prattling on about the Empire and the Second World War, and the beginnings of the New Republic, but all Rey could think about was Ben's motivations. What if what Rose said was true? Did she really want this life, to take the chance and let herself have feelings for the prince? Why was she holding herself back? Or worse; what if Rose was wrong and Ben was getting ready to escort her out of the palace any minute now? Was she ready to leave this all behind?

Her ruminations were interrupted when Holdo called for a break. Rey stretched her legs and wandered out into the hallway, wandering aimlessly down an expansive, ornately decorated corridor filled with plush carpeting, gold sconces and royal portraits lining the walls. She stopped and admired one portrait in particular; the royal family, probably from two decades ago if Rey had to guess. The painting was impressively accurate, and she noticed the details the painter seemed to nail. Han, twenty years younger, with the vague appearance that he'd rather be anywhere but posing for a stuffy painting. Leia, with her features softer but still so elegant, there was no doubt who was in charge. Then her focus turned to a ten-year-old Ben, his hair much shorter and his ears poking out, and his nose slightly too big for his face. He looked like a mixture of lonely and content, almost as if he was happy to be with his parents but only present in body, not in mind. She found herself relating to this Ben, a loneliness in a crowded room feeling well known to her.

"I see you've found my least favorite picture in this whole place." A low voice rumbled from behind her, and she started in surprise. She turned quickly to see none other than present-day Ben, standing very close behind her. She smiled up at him, taking a small step back so she didn't have to crane her neck.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You're adorable! What happened?" She teased back. He shook his head in amusement, trying to conceal his smile. He turned to head further down the hallway, extending his arm to her which she took without thought.

"Shouldn't you be in the Ladies' Room or something?" He asked her, yet pulling her in closer at the same time as they took slow steps down the hall.

"Holdo let us out on break. I could ask you the same, don't you normally have meetings?"

"I too needed a break. They are talking about budgets and if we go around in another circle again I'm going to scream."

This piqued Rey's interest. "Budget meeting? What all does the monarchy fund?"

Ben ran a hand down his face, as if he didn't want to rehash money talk again, but obliged nonetheless. "Same old things. Military, education, defense, food shelters—"

"Hold on, food shelters?" Rey cut him off unceremoniously. They stopped at a bench halfway down the corridor, and Rey sat down, pulling him down to sit next to her.

"Yeah, food shelters." Ben responded quizzically, unsure of what she was getting at. "They are usually what gets cut first to be honest. Snoke keeps funneling more and more money into the military, which mom thinks is ludicrous because we've been at peace for so long."

"What do you think about it?" Rey asked.

"Well mom says—"

"No Ben, I want to know what you think about it."

Ben sighed, pensive. As if no one had actually asked his opinion before.

"I think there are probably better uses of our money. We can still fund the military but put more money towards education or something." Rey nodded slightly, looking off to the side, eyes unfocused. Ben nudged her knee with his, guiding her eyes back to meet his. "What do you think?"

Rey hesitated, not sure how truthful she should be with Ben. Then she thought to hell with it . If he wanted to be with her, he would need to know that she had opinions on things. If he wanted a yes-woman, better to know now that that wasn't her.

"Whatever food shelter money you've been using, it's not enough. I've never seen a food bank, a free meal ever. You know how helpful that would've been? Maz and I have been scraping by for years, trying to trade what we can and working insane hours in Plutt's garage to try to make ends meet. There's never been any support...from anyone."

"Hey now, the royal—"

"No. Education is great and all, but if you can't put food on the table, kids drop out so they can work. My friend Finn, before he enlisted, he had to try to feed six mouths. He has four younger siblings, his dad is gone and his mom can't work. He had to drop out of school to put food on the table. Back in Jakku, there aren't any programs to help those in need."

A beat of silence. Then a few more. Ben finally spoke, his tone small and broken.

"How often did you go hungry?"

"We...we did okay, Maz and me."

"Rey, answer the question. How often did you go hungry?"

"...often enough." Rey finally admitted.

With that, Ben stood up abruptly. Rey looked up at him, stunned by the surprise action. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, and took off down the hallway, leaving her in his wake.

She swiped at her eyes, wondering what he was about to go do.

She didn't see him for another two days. In the meantime, the camera crew came back to film how the women spend their days in the Ladies' Room, for footage to show on the upcoming week's Report. The crew forced a bit more socializing and group activities than what normally happens, but Rey was mentally preoccupied in her own thoughts and mindlessly went along with it. The crew took turns interviewing all the women, an identical list of questions for each woman about how they're finding the palace, their time with Ben, etc. Bazine made it no secret how excited she was to brag in her interview, giving everyone around her a nasty glare as if in challenge to pick a fight with her. Rey just rolled her eyes, avoiding interaction with the volatile woman as much as possible. When it became Bazine's turn, she waltzed into the corner where the camera and makeshift set had been created in a big sweeping motion, as though bidding her adoring fans goodbye. Kaydel made a mock gagging motion to Rey, safe from the cameras eyes, and Rey giggled.

Jessika and Gwen had started hanging around with her and Kaydel more and more, and Rey started to feel a little like she had found some semblance of belonging. She couldn't avoid the constant antagonism from Bazine, but she took comfort in the knowledge that just about everyone was sick of her and her arrogance too.

"Where do you think the prince has been? We haven't even seen him at mealtimes," Jessika commented as the girls sat on one of the round couches near the window. "I worry about him."

Rey had been wondering nearly the same thing herself. She had heard him mention someone named Snoke in their conversation the other day. She had to assume that was the old man she had seen yelling at Ben the first day. Even his name sounded nefarious. She had a bad feeling about him, and it was he that occupied her mind more than Ben's absence.

"I'm sure he's just busy," Kaydel countered. "Though it would be nice to have some time with him, even if he just joined us as a group. I haven't had any time with him yet." Rey noticed that one of the cameramen had found their little group and was videoing their conversation.

"I'm sure he'll plan to do just that very soon," Rey tried to encourage, though her comment was met with looks of skepticism mixed with a little bit of hope. "What do you think, Phas, have you gotten to talk much with the prince?"

Gwen looked up from where she was staring at the ground. She'd asked them all to call her Phas or Phasma, since she hated her first name. She didn't really comment much, nodding and saying, "I'm sure he will," before sinking back into her own thoughts. Rey made a note to ask her about that later, but wouldn't pry while the cameras were present. She was assuaged by the fact that they weren't taped 24/7, that these were just little update segments of their week that aired during the Report, but she hated it all the same.

Before any of them could say anything else, a loud alarm started blaring throughout the whole palace. Many of the women clasped their hands over their ears to drown it out, not knowing where the sound was originating from or what it meant. Holdo stood up from her spot near the entrance, waving her hands out to catch everyone's attention.

"Nobody panic! It's probably just a drill. As a precaution, everyone please follow me." She made her way to the corner of the room and opened a secret door that was disguised as part of the wall. It popped open, and Holdo started ushering girls in as calmly as possible. "Keep following the path until you hit the end, it leads to a safe room. Don't stop, don't turn around, just keep going."

Rey started to panic. What about Rose and Finn, where were they, would they be safe? She asked Holdo as much when she approached the door to the secret passage, clutching Kaydel's hand in hers.

"Your guard friend will have his own responsibilities during an emergency such as this," Holdo said, making a sweeping motion with her hand to usher some of the other girls past and into the passage. "Your attendants all have their own safe rooms. They will be fine, I promise." It didn't exactly calm Rey down, but she let herself be led down the pathway by Kaydel.

Soon enough they arrived at a large safe room. Palace staff were scrambling to make sure enough chairs and comfort items were set up for the extra people, since there weren't normally eleven extra women in the room. The four girls scooted into a corner, away from the hustle and bustle. They noticed that Han and Leia were already down here, talking in hushed tones off to the side. Their faces were etched with worry, and Rey wondered if this really wasn't a drill.

Ben stumbled in shortly after they got situated, and Rey found herself releasing a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She was relieved to see him. His eyes found hers quickly, and he bit his thumb without hesitation. She returned the gesture, and with a near-imperceptible nod he moved off to speak with his mother and father. Their conversation was brief, and he started making his rounds through the room, speaking with all the women one by one.

Rey watched him speak with every person ahead of her, a kernel of jealousy low in her belly that she tried to ignore. She was pleased to find that his conversation with Bazine was incredibly brief, barely a minute long. He finally approached Rey's little group, and asked after each one of her companions first, leading them off to have semi-private conversations. Finally, mercifully, he pulled Rey aside.

She didn't think, and surged up to hug him as soon as they had some semblance of privacy. His face betrayed his surprise, but he returned the hug, squeezing her close before releasing her all too quickly. She tried not to feel disappointed in the brevity of the embrace, but then quickly remembered there were many prying eyes and he had not made a habit of hugging all the other women.

"Sorry," she mumbled, embarrassed by her outburst and chewing on her lip. She stared at the floor, chastising herself for her action when she felt a light pressure under her chin; Ben's finger lightly raising her head to look at him directly.

"Never apologize," he said, a small smile dancing across his features. "I have just been checking in on everyone, seeing how they're doing."

"This isn't really a drill, is it?" She asked without preamble. He bit his lip, effectively distracting her as her eyes fell onto his mouth, giving him a few extra seconds to think.

"Sort of." He hedged. "It's not exactly a drill, but there are no real signs of an attack. We received intel that there might be a small number of insurgents trying to stage an attack on the palace, so we took the precaution to keep you all safe. And practice what to do in a real emergency." He emitted a small, humorless laugh. "But no one knows except you. I trust you can keep this to yourself?"

"Cross my heart," Rey promised.

Ben nodded in thanks, and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "I'll come find you after dinner tonight. Wait up for me?" His eyes were open and sincere, and Rey couldn't help but smile and nod. He lifted her hand to his mouth in the lightest of kisses, and departed to group back up with his parents and Holdo.

Rey sat back down in a daze, to the stares of the other three women she had been sitting with.

"What?"

After two long hours, everyone was released from the safe room and were sent back to their rooms to spend the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. Rey was eager to get to her room and get the chance to talk to Finn about what happened, but he wasn't at her door when she arrived. She hoped he was okay.

She was, however, able to check in with Rose and make sure everything was fine. As Holdo had promised, there were many safe rooms hidden around the palace, and Rose was able to make it to one specifically allocated to the attendants. Rose told her the entrance was a little far from Rey's room, much to Rey's dismay, but she was happy to hear Rose was safe.

Dinner was a subdued affair. Despite the story that it was just a drill, many of the girls were shaken up by the events of the day. Rey watched everyone around her, noticing the only conversations happening were between Ben and his parents.

In the middle of the meal, Ben extricated himself from a discussion with Han and stood up to address the room. The mere motion of him rising was enough to garner everyone's attention, since there was such little activity among the guests in the room.

"Thank you for everyone's tenacity and patience today," Ben started. "I know it was unexpected for everyone. We felt it was important to enact this drill so that you would be aware, if you were to stay in this palace, there is always a chance of danger. While we are at peace, we still need to anticipate any threat to the royal family or any of its staff and palace inhabitants. If this was too much for anyone, and you would like to go home, please do not hesitate to come talk to me. I'll stay here for a couple hours after dinner should any of you wish to discuss any concerns with me." He swiftly sat back down, turning his full attention to his plate.

Rey scoffed at that. She knew it wasn't a drill, but no one else did. Why would people want to leave after that? Still, when she got up to leave after dinner, she was surprised that Freya was hanging back to have a word with Ben.

She was relieved to find Finn back at his post when she made her way back to her room. She forgot proper decorum again, and embraced him in a bear hug, happy to see he was unharmed.

"Was there any real danger?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"No, it turned out to be a false alarm. With the activity in Parnassus recently, they didn't want to take any chances that the intercepted message was fake. Wait, how did you know it wasn't a drill?" Finn asked, realizing halfway through his explanation he'd said more than he should.

"Ben told me. But made me keep a secret," Rey confessed. Finn nodded slowly.

"I know you hated the idea of him back in Jakku, Rey. But he's not all bad. I don't like that Snoke guy he hangs out with."

Rey smiled softly at that. "I don't like that guy either. He gives me the creeps." A slight shudder passed through her. "Speaking of. Ben is coming by at some point tonight. Don't give him too much trouble." She poked Finn in the side with a giggle, and entered her room, ignoring the silly face Finn made at her in teasing.

Rose was still in the room, dinner having taken a shorter time than usual, so Rose helped her get in one of her nightgowns, a short-sleeved green cotton thing that hit at the knee with a silk robe overtop to preserve modesty. She sat on one of the chairs in her small sitting area, reading one of the books in her room to pass the time. After a couple hours, she heard a soft knock on the door, and the sound of the door opening before she had a chance to answer.

Ben walked in, his tie loosened and the first couple buttons on his dress shirt undone, his hair mussed from what she assumed was multiple encounters of his hand running through it. She smiled and patted the seat next to her. He returned her smile and ambled over to be close to her, resting his hand on her knee as he sat down.

Rey shifted in her seat to face him.

"Freya is leaving." Ben admitted, squeezing her knee. "Which, I'm glad for. No one should feel like they need to stay here if they don't want to." He looked pointedly at her, almost daring her to admit she wanted out now too.

Instead, she lifted her hand up, placing it gently on his cheek, smoothing away some of the hair from his face. Her thumb grazing the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not going anywhere."

At her words, Ben closed the distance between them and gave Rey a sweet, soft kiss. Her heart fluttered at the contact, and she moved her hand from his cheek to the back of his head to hold him close. He smiled into their kiss, deepening it with a light trace of his tongue along her lips. She gasped in surprise, granting him entrance. His tongue teased hers, a soft exploration before he ended the kiss with two small pecks in quick succession.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me to hear you say that."

She smiled at his words, then dropped her hand as inner self-consciousness got the best of her.

"Where have you been the last couple days?" She asked, standing and walking away from the sitting area to put her book away.

"Ah that's...a secret still. I promise, once it's finalized I plan to announce it on the Report. Hopefully this week, just be patient with me, sweetheart."

Her eyes shot to his at the nickname. She mulled it over in her head. It was better than darling, certainly better than buttercup. She smiled at the name, nodding in acceptance.

"Fine. I can be patient. I can't help but be worried. We have these wonderful moments, then you disappear. Or ask three women out and don't talk to me for days."

"Are you jealous?" He stood, a smirk appearing on his face. She rolled her eyes and hopped up on the bed, nestling into the pillows in a seated position.

"Me? Jealous? Never." She quipped, but he laughed and walked over to stand by the head of her bed, where he could run his fingers through her tresses, gazing down on her from his height, towering over her.

"I think someone's a little jealous. Just a little," he said, his voice full of mirth. She grabbed his hand from her head, pulling it into her lap and lacing her fingers with his.

"Okay. Maybe a little." He seemed a little stunned by her admission, but quickly cleared his features. The emotion was so fleeing that Rey couldn't be sure it was real. He kissed her hand again, and then nudged her unceremoniously towards the center of the bed so he could climb up to sit next to her, draping his arm around her shoulder to rest his hand on her waist.

"If I could stop this ridiculous contest right now, I would," he admitted softly, his voice so quiet in her ear. "But I know how you feel about me, the royal family, the palace, being here. I can't force that on you." He smiled sadly, his hand not at her waist tracing a lazy pattern on her thigh. She watched his hand, goosebumps running up her arms at his casual touch.

Her heart broke with happiness at his consideration. How wrong she was about this man from the onset. She couldn't have predicted how thoughtful, kind, and generous he was at every turn. Even though he had just made it clear what he wanted, he would not pressure her.

She looked up at him, tearing her eyes away from his massive hand on her leg. "How I feel about you?" She inquired.

"I vividly remember you telling me you could never love me," he said, a small pained look on his face.

"I think…" she trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what she wanted to say. "I think there's potential for change there." She cleared her throat. "That doesn't mean...I mean...I need time. But," she dropped her eyes back to his hand, "staying here is not off the table."

She placed her hand on Ben's, halting his pattern tracing. She braved another look at his face, and the unabashed admiration displayed there made her want to remember this moment forever. She kissed him again, the two of them getting lost in the progress they've made.

The last thing she remembered was dozing off in a pair of warm, strong, protective arms.


	11. Chapter11

When she woke up the next morning, she was alone.

She distinctly remembered the night before, her and Ben tangled in each others arms in her bed, talking in low murmurs to each other about any little thing that crossed their mind. She learned so much about him; his favorite color, his hobbies, and the things he was most excited and nervous for whenever the time came for him to finally lead the country in Leia's place.

The kissing had been great, too.

She was still afraid to dive headfirst into the abyss of Ben Solo with no safety net. She had come a long way from her first day as a contestant of The Choice, but when she sat back and considered her life, she still felt a little lost. She had feelings for Ben, she couldn't deny it. And he had feelings for her, that much was evident. Her stomach fluttered with butterflies every time he looked at her, every time he said those sweet things to her. She even liked it when he called her sweetheart , which surprised her.

What she wasn't ready for was everything that being with Ben Solo entailed. Her loss of autonomy, her freedom to come and go. To always be in the spotlight, always be watched. Her two lives could not have been more different. If she agreed to stay with Ben, how would she maintain her sense of self? She had to admit, she wouldn't have to worry about her and Maz working themselves to the bone. And with Finn as part of the royal guard, he would be set up to take care of his family too. But how would she still manage to be herself amongst the gilded walls, spending her days doing frivolous activities? She had grown up resenting the royals, seeing their excess on The Report week after week while she scavenged and scraped by for food.

It was Friday, which meant another night of filming The Report back in the studio. She was hopeful, with the recent activity of Kana and Freya's departures, that she wouldn't have to participate much in the conversation tonight. She figured she was unlikely to see Ben before this evening, and decided after breakfast she would rather spend the day in her rooms with Rose. Normally Rose was here waiting for her when she woke up, but she didn't mind having the morning to herself.

She quickly got herself ready and left the room to head to breakfast. Finn was stationed outside her room again, and he gave her a knowing smirk as she emerged.

"I saw a certain someone leaving your room at 6 a.m. this morning, Peanut." Finn teased. Rey rolled her eyes and turned to face Finn. He winked at her, and she crossed her arms, completely exasperated.

"Nothing happened, Finn." Rey protested, knowing exactly where Finn would be going with it.

"Whatever you say. I've never seen such a lovesick fool," he needled. Rey shoved his arm playfully and snorted.

"Yeah right, Finn. See you later." She turned and walked away before he could continue to mercilessly tease her.

Rey passed the day amiably with Rose in her rooms, playing card games and talking about life before The Choice. Eventually the conversations veered towards boys, and Rey was prepared to say she wasn't ready to talk more about her feelings for Ben, when Rose went in a different direction than anticipated.

"You said you grew up with Officer Storm?" Rose asked, idly straightening an already pristine stack of books on Rey's desk. Rey looked up, noticing Rose was staunchly avoiding meeting her eyes.

"You mean Finn?" A nod from Rose, still not meeting Rey's eyes. "I did, we grew up just a couple streets down from each other." Rey felt a little bit of nostalgia creep in, reminiscing on the days where they did not have a care in the world other than making it home in time for dinner. How drastically things had changed for the both of them in the last month and a half.

"What was he like?" came the responding question from the other side of the room. This time, Rose did raise her eyes to meet Rey's, an undeniable glimmer in her visage in her excitement to learn about the guard standing watch outside Rey's quarters.

Rey sat back and pondered that question for a moment before answering. "We were both carefree, for awhile. Growing up in Jakku wasn't the easiest childhood, and he had to grow up faster than he should have. He's incredibly resilient. So caring and protective. He's the best person to have in your corner."

Rey smiled fondly at the opportunity to gush over her friend. She could tell Rose had some ulterior motives behind her questions, but Rey wouldn't press her until she was ready to talk about it. It was the least she could do, when Rose did the exact same thing for her at every turn.

After several hours of bonding and giggling, it was time for them to get Rey for that night's taping of The Report. Poe had outdone himself yet again, delivering another stunning gown to her room. As she slipped it on, she marveled at how lightweight and airy the ice blue fabric felt against her skin.

This dress was floor-length, the A-line skirt swishing around her as she surveyed herself in the mirror. Cinched at the waist with a silk ribbon, the long-sleeved gown had an illusion neckline, the full bodice sheer and dotted with silver blue crystals, continuing the full length of each sleeve. The crystals extended down into the icy blue skirts, creating a glittering image no matter which way the light caught the dress.

"Oh, Rey, it's absolutely breathtaking," Rose claimed as she stepped into the room from the ensuite bathroom. Rey did a little twirl for her then, the collections of jewels twinkling in the light of the room. Rey felt ethereal.

Rose completed the look by helping Rey compile all her hair into a soft bun on the top of her head, small wisps of hair surrounding her face and ears. They left her makeup incredibly natural, just a dusting of pink on her cheeks and a swipe of mascara - Rose decided to let the dress do the talking.

Rey knew her way to the in-palace studio by heart now, and easily navigated there with Kaydel and Jessika. It seems the stylists all had similar color schemes in mind this week, since Kaydel was wearing a long dress in royal blue, and Jesskia's was an aquamarine at the top of her cap sleeves, blending seamlessly to the ground, where the edge of her skirts was an inky midnight blue.

As predicted, the majority of the night's report was focused on various updates, where Hux spent the bulk of his time conversing directly with the queen. Try as she might to focus, Rey's eyes kept wandering around the set, only half-hearing what they were discussing. Her gaze seemed to be magnetically drawn to Ben's, her eyes finding his every time she turned away from the primary conversation. She felt like, if anyone should be paying attention, it should be him, and yet every time her attention drifted over to him, he was watching her.

She shifted a little in her seat, flushing under his piercing stare, and she didn't miss his smirk when he realized he was the reason for her blush. He lifted his hand to his mouth, but instead of biting his thumb like she expected, he traced the outline of those plump lips with his middle finger.

He was teasing her.

She shared a smile with him, a small, private thing just for him, and he winked back at her, dropping his tease and biting his thumb. She bit hers in return, but her attention was quickly diverted when she saw a flash of movement in her peripheral vision, and snapped her eyes away from Ben's to find the source.

It was Snoke. He was lingering in the shadows, watching the proceedings from the background, and was giving her the coldest glare she'd ever received. She suppressed a shiver, not sure exactly what she had done to deserve the vile look she was currently on the receiving end of. Eventually, the man snarled at her, but mercifully turned his gaze back to Hux, who had ended his conversation with the queen and was introducing the segment that would air the footage of the contestants filmed earlier in the week.

The rest of the filming passed without incident, and Rey was thankful for small mercies in the form of not being directly addressed on camera this week. The contestants were milling about, socializing and talking about the various topics from earlier that night. Rey, quite preoccupied with the thoughts running through her head, barely participated in the conversation.

She found herself in a conversation with Kaydel and Dana, the contestant from Alderaan, who was prattling on about some of the economic implications of the topics discussed on the Report earlier. Rey was only half listening as she watched Phasma sneak over to Hux. She watched them interact, a small smile on Rey's face that mirrored the larger one on Phasma's face as she carried on with Armitage. She realized that over the last few weeks, Phas spent more time talking with Hux after each recording than any of the other contestants. He squeezed her arm after a time, an intimate action, and excused himself from the room.

The royal family never lingered, always slipping away to have some private time. Usually this never bothered Rey, but tonight she had never felt so alone in a room of people. After seeing Phas and Hux's casual intimacy, she surprised herself with the thought that she wished she could be here with Ben, by his side while they mingled with everyone. Instead, she was alone, listening to Dana ramble on about something uninteresting and casting wistful glances at her friend and her own budding romance. She wondered if Ben knew about it; technically it was against the rules as a lady of The Choice to have romantic entanglements outside of whatever rapport you had with the prince. But, even if Ben did know, she liked to believe he would keep Phas around, at least for a little while longer, to allow them to fan the flame.

Rey soothed the loneliness in her bones, reminding herself that Ben would be coming to see her again tonight. The thought made her smile, a private thing she kept to herself. She had gotten quite used to their secret time together, away from prying eyes and judging women. To just spend time, without the contest, without expectations, getting to know each other better.

He came later than usual that night, the exhaustion clear in his eyes and his steps heavy and unsteady.

"What's wrong?" Rey asked, immediately getting up from her spot when she noticed him stumble in. She crossed the room in a few strides, rubbing her hands up and down his arms in a comforting gesture. He dropped his head to her shoulder, swaying a little bit and she almost toppled from his weight.

"Come on, let's sit you down big guy," she coaxed him over to the seating area, and he tumbled across the space and collapsed onto the small loveseat, rubbing the heels of his palms against his eyes. Rey joined him, sitting gingerly on the edge of the sofa next to his hunched body, and he looked up at her when he felt her presence.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured, a hand coming to grip her thigh, half in an effort to steady himself, half in eagerness to be close to her, to touch her. She flushed under the compliment, and rested her hand on top of his, though she got the sense that something was awry.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, rephrasing her earlier inquiry. His eyes were fixated on where their hands were joined.

"S'fine," he said, words blurring together. He lifted their joined hands to his lips, dusting light kisses across the back of her hand. "You're sodamn booful, Rey, and I swear, if anyone does anything--"

"Whoa, hey there, calm down," she soothed, brushing her free hand through his hair. She leaned in close, almost to kiss him, and then straightened up when she got a whiff of his breath.

"Are you drunk, Ben?"

He had pulled their joined hands to his chest, resting her hand over his heart as his other came to play with the tendrils of hair that framed her face.

"Snoke is an asshole," was his only reply.

Rey released a nervous chuckle, not exactly sure how to respond to that. She certainly hadn't liked anything she'd seen from the man so far, but to date they had never interacted.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No. I juss wanna bewithyou," he stumbled through his words again, unable to properly enunciate. He lowered his forehead to hers so that they were touching, in equal parts for the continued stability of her touch and so he didn't collapse further into the couch, hand still stroking through her chestnut locks.

She raised her free hand to cup his cheek, mirroring his hold on her as they drank each other in. Soon enough, their lips found each other and Rey could taste the scotch on his breath. It was intoxicating, the taste of Ben mingled with the taste of the liquor and even though he had been drinking she felt she could get lost in their kiss, tongues teasing and dancing between lips.

Until she felt his hand drop from her face to cup her breast.

She whipped back so fast from his embrace and reach that he lurched forward at the sudden loss of her .

"What was that?" She asked him, immediately on the defense at his unwelcome advance.

He looked at her, in a daze, as if confused at the turn the evening was taking.

"What do you mean?" He stammered out.

"You know exactly what I mean." She stood up, placing even more space between the two of them as she leaned up against the edge of her desk.

Something finally clicked into place, and the fog in his brain seemed to clear a bit.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry Rey. I didn't...I wasn't…" he trailed off, lifting off his chair and walking towards her, but she shot out a hand to stop his advance.

"You know what they told us when we got here. You know they said you could take whatever you wanted . And you know I'm not that person. If you want that, there's a handful of other girls here who would happily volunteer." She said, a trace of venom in her voice as she remembered the words Mitaka spoke to her before she arrived at the palace. Back when she hated the prince, before she had known the prince.

Hurt flashed in his eyes, appropriately humbled. "You know I would never…" he trailed off, appropriately ashamed. "I'm sorry."

She chewed on the inside of her lip, unwilling to give him an answer right away. Her silence seemed to mess with him, and he started to ramble. He paced the room, stumbling as if he'd lost his brain to the alcohol again.

"He wanted to see me. It's normal. He told me to cut you," he was talking fast at this point, slurring his words even worse than before and Rey could barely keep up.

"Snoke?" She asked, her question left totally unanswered as he continued talking as if she wasn't in the room.

"Deadline. Have to pick someone else or else. I can't, he can't. Parnassos could get worse, he wants to squash you, squash it…" he spun, frantic, facing Rey. She could see a hint of fear amongst the glassy look in his eyes caused by the scotch, and at once all her anger released from within her, gone in an instant.

"Ben, I can't help you if you keep spouting nonsense. You're making me nervous."

He rushed towards her, cradling her face in his warm, slightly trembling hands, kissing her again deeply as if she were his lifeline in the darkness.

"Don't leave. Please ," he beseeched her, eyes scanning her face for affirmation.

She raised her hands, placing them overtop his briefly before carding her fingers through his hair gently.

"Shh, Ben, it's okay. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere," she shifted to comfort him as he completely unraveled in front of her. He nodded, refusing to let go of her. She shushed and calmed him, leading him over to her bed, heavily supporting his weight as they trudged over to the bed. She heaved him over the edge, and he fell onto the mattress easily, kicking off his shoes and immediately curling up under her covers.

He peered up at her from the bed, a goofy smile on his face as Rey bent down to remove his bowtie and unbutton the top button of his collared shirt, placing the bowtie with care on the nightstand closest to his head. He clutched her hand as she finished her task, holding them close.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Stay...please?" He murmured, his eyes already drooping and his hold loosening. Rey rolled her eyes.

"This is my room, Ben. Of course I'm staying." She traversed to the other side of the bed, climbing in beside him, turning off the lamp on her bedside table as she snuggled into his side.

As his arms curled around her and his breathing slowed, evident he had already fallen asleep, Rey let herself find comfort in his embrace and let the evening wash over her.

First Snoke gives her a menacing glare at the filming of The Report, and then later that evening Ben comes in, drunk and rambling about how he's been told to send her home? Whatever happened tonight between Ben and Snoke, Rey had a feeling that it wasn't the first time something like that had occurred. And, as she peered up at his soft facial features in the dark, she realized one thing.

She'd be damned if she let it happen again.


	12. Chapter12

Rose shook her awake early in the morning.

Her and Ben.

Rey came to quickly, surprised at the disruption in her sleep.

"Lady Rey, it's nearly 7 a.m. We need to get the prince out of here before anyone notices he's gone," Rose needled, urgency in her voice.

Rey gathered her faculties, and then turned to Ben, who was completely conked out.

"Ben," She said, shaking him slightly. A soft grunt came from his general vicinity, but otherwise no movement was made.

"Ben," she said, a bit more urgently. He stirred, inhaling a deep breath and his eyes eventually fluttering open.

"Mmmmmmorning sweetheart," he mumbled, the sleep still apparent in his voice. He squeezed her tighter to him, but Rey resisted, sitting up and gesturing to Rose.

"Ben, you've got to go. It's morning."

That seemed to rouse him. He sat up, wiping the sleep away from his eyes, shifting his focus between Rey and Rose, and then back to Rey. He gave her a quick kiss on the temple, and then jumped out of bed, quickly finding his shoes. He mumbled a quick thank you to Rose, a soft "I'll see you later?" to Rey, and disappeared out the door.

Rey flopped back on the pillows, shaking her head.

"That was a close one. Thanks, Rose," Rey said graciously, and Rose took a seat at the end of the bed.

"I know it's not technically against the rules, my lady, but I didn't want anyone seeing or speculating."

"And you are an angel," Rey admitted, casting her gaze to the right to look out the window and noticing Ben had left his bow-tie on her nightstand. She sat upright in the bed, reaching over to pick it up.

"Would you like me to return that to His Majesty, Rey?" Rose asked at the sight of her holding the bowtie in her hands. Rey lifted it up, smelling it for any sign of Ben. It was faint, but she could still smell a whisper of Ben and of scotch on the small article of clothing.

"No, that's quite all right Rose, I think I'll hold onto it for now," she said dreamily, curling the tie tight in her fist. "What's on the itinerary for today?"

"It's Saturday, so...Ladies Room. Leia won't be there this week, so if you wanted to hang out here, your absence probably wouldn't be noticed too much."

"I think I've got an idea of what I'd like to do today, then," came Rey's response.

A couple hours later found Rey, in her favorite jeans, working in Han's garage. She had visited a couple times after her first encounter with the king, and it had become one of her favorite haunts. She felt like it was one of the only places she could truly be herself. Far away from all the dresses, the politics, the gossip, it was just her and whatever car she was tinkering with. Han had, understandably so, not let her touch his prized Falcon, but there was a sleek black Mercedes Whisper that had essentially become Rey's to play with when she came calling.

Han was almost always there when Rey showed up, which suited her fine. They didn't talk often, which seemed to suit him fine. They tinkered in a companionable silence more often than not, talking only when Rey had questions on what she was working on or when Han came to admire her handiwork.

Today started much the same, but midway through the morning Han had some coffee and pastries brought in, and they took a break, sitting at the little work table. Han wiped his grimy hands on his work pants, and then reached for the pot of coffee to pour both him and Rey a cup.

They sipped in silence for several moments, before Han cleared his throat, grabbing Rey's attention.

"So, I'm glad to see you're still around," Han said bluntly. "Maybe my son has a good head on his shoulders after all," he winked at her as he said those last words.

"Are you saying he doesn't normally make good decisions?" Rey teased him, grabbing a blueberry scone off the tray and only making half an effort to eat it daintily. Han chuffed a laugh.

"Nah, he's a good kid. Always wondered why he and Leia keep that Snoke guy around. Never liked him."

"What don't you like about him?"

"Gives me the creeps. He's always lurking. If you ask me I think he's up to something. Biding his time. I've told Leia as much. She doesn't like him either, but…"

"But what?"

"He's not technically done anything wrong, or illegal. So...he stays."

Rey let Han's words wash over her for a moment. Sure, Snoke was innocent in theory. But she couldn't get past the icy dread that crept down her back when she remembered the look he gave her at The Report, and Ben's subsequent meltdown later that same night.

"What does Ben think of him?" Rey asked, trying to see if she could uncover some additional insight.

"Eh, I don't talk to him much about all the politics garbage. Maybe that's my fault. He's been on edge a lot more recently, though. Even before you ladies all got here."

Rey took Han's words with her as they finished their coffee, and Rey bade him goodbye. She wandered the halls, not caring there was grease and motor oil all over her jeans and blouse, turning the words over in her head.

If no one in the royal family seemed to like Snoke, how did he even become such a fixture here? Something wasn't right. She'd hoped Han would have had a little bit more to divulge. Then again, she couldn't blame the king for not sharing secrets with a random girl staying in his house, while his son dated her and nine other women.

She tried to remember his body language; how he physically distanced himself from the table while he was talking about Snoke, as if to distance himself from the man in question. The more she heard snippets from other people about the old royal advisor, the more her hackles were raised.

She had been so entrenched in her thoughts that she found herself lost in a wing of the palace she'd never seen before. She thought her feet were taking her on a familiar journey back to her room, but she had never seen this corridor before. She slowed to a stop, trying to get her bearings. She pushed through the nearest door, hoping it would lead her to familiar territory.

What she found was a complete surprise.

It appeared to be a supply room for use in The Report. I must be near the studio, then, Rey thought to herself as she slowly moved further into the room, casting her eyes around and taking everything in. She saw a lot of cameras, tripods, lenses, and other things the filmographers no doubt used.

She smiled as she saw a little corner marked "Hux," containing some of the more glittery suit vests she had seen him wear on special occasions over the years. Funny what the brain remembers , she thought to herself as she traced her finger over a glittery red and blue vest she recognized from an episode of The Report on the New Republic Independence day four years ago.

She turned around to leave, thinking if she could find the studio she would be able to get back to her room, when a cluster of something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Her feet led her over to the table of their own accord, and she found herself face to face with the giant glass bowls from the night her name was chosen and her life changed.

Twelve bowls sat in front of her, still full of tiny slips of paper. As if they were shoved here and left forgotten after that fateful night.

Her hand reached out to the first bowl, unable to stop herself from reaching out and plucking a slip of paper. She unfurled the paper, smoothing out the crease and reading the printed words.

Bazine Netal.

Oh, she had grabbed from the Coruscant bowl.

Wait.

If Bazine had been selected, why would her name still be in the bowl? Maybe they tossed them back in after reading, and she had just grabbed the top one.

She dug her hand further in the bowl, swirling her arm around before grabbing one on the very bottom. She flattened this one out too, and read the name with a mix of confusion and anger dawning on her.

Bazine Netal.

Paper after paper had Bazine's name on it. She collected the papers in her hands, crumbling them up one after the other. In a fit of anger, she threw them, causing the scraps to flutter in the air around her as they descended to the ground.

She tried to take a calming breath. She told Maz as much, didn't she? That nothing like this was ever left to chance? Still, everything she'd experienced once she had arrived at the palace had subverted her expectations. She should not have let herself fall under a false sense of security.

Someone wanted Bazine to win.

Maybe there was hope, though. If Bazine was the only one, if this was somehow Snoke's plan to try to get his pick on the throne, she could make peace with that. Heck, she could even try to use that to convince Ben to can the old man. She could make sure Snoke didn't get his way.

She quickly walked around the table, looking at the little labels in front of each bowl indicating which province that bowl held entries for. She finally found the one for Jakku.

She hesitated. Did she really want to know?

She stood there, hand hovering over the bowl for seconds that crept on for hours, finally plunging her hand into the bowl, pulling out three different strips of paper at once.

Rey Johnson.

Rey Johnson.

Rey Johnson.

The tears came before she could stop them.

She tore out of the room, storming through the hallways until she finally found her way back to her room. She sent Rose away, claiming to not feel well and needing a nap, and paced in a fury the moment Rose walked out the door.

She was livid.

Why lie about the nature of The Choice? If it wasn't random, why say so? Did Ben know? What was his hand in all of this?

She tried to tell herself it didn't matter. It didn't change the fact that she was here. It didn't change the fact that Bazine was here.

Did Ben only have feelings for her because he picked her ahead of time? Did someone else pick her, thinking Ben wouldn't look twice?

She screamed in frustration, and Finn peeked his head through the door at the sound.

"Everything okay, Peanut?" He asked her, leaning into the room.

"No," she commiserated, and Finn entered the room, leaving the door open in his wake. Rey watched him come in, falling on her back on her bed and releasing another loud, frustrated groan as she stared at the ceiling. Finn, complete in his guard uniform, mirrored her action and fell backwards on the bed next to her. They stared up at the ceiling for a few moments.

"Things certainly have changed," Finn voiced, turning his head to face Rey.

"They certainly have," she groused, rolling her eyes and flattening her hand to her forehead. "How did we get here, Finn?"

He pondered that for awhile before responding. "I don't know, Peanut. But I don't think we'd be able to go back to how things were, which is what I think you're thinking right now." Her head snapped to the side, meeting his eyes, giving him as scathing a look as she could muster.

"How do you know what I'm thinking?"

"I've known you my whole life, Rey. And I know, even if you are having second guesses on things right now, that you will push through. You're the strongest girl I know...and you've met my mom." Rey smiled at that, thinking back to simpler times in Jakku. She turned her head back to watch the ceiling, worrying her lip between her teeth.

"Is this a bad time?"

Finn and Rey shot up at the third voice, looking to see Ben in the doorway, his arms crossed and a tense look on his face. Finn scrambled off the bed, delivering a hasty bow before escaping out of the room to resume his post. Ben watched him impassively the whole time, refusing to betray a single emotion on his face the entire time Finn was in the room.

Rey remained seated on the bed, all of her anger back at his arrival. Ben shut the door, and in a terse voice asked, "Do I need to switch out your guard?"

"Don't you dare take Finn away!" She cried, angry at the power move he played. "He's my oldest friend, we grew up together. Don't you dare remove the only familiar face I have!"

He seemed slightly humbled at her outburst, his face softening as he moved further into the room.

"Ah, I see." He came nearer, intending to embrace her in greeting, when she shot up, ready to fight.

"Don't you 'ah, I see' me, Ben," she spat.

"What is going on?" He asked, completely confounded.

"I should be asking you the same thing, your majesty . How am I supposed to trust anything that comes out of your mouth?"

"Wh-what are you talking about? Rey, what is wrong sweetheart? Talk to me." He reached for her again, and she smacked his hand away.

"Don't pretend you don't know this whole thing is rigged. When were you going to tell us? Were you ever going to tell us? Why single me out, make a fool of bringing me here? Bazine's rigged too, is she here to swoop in and steal your heart to win favor?" Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she spewed words of hatred at Ben, whose face devolved further and further into confusion and disbelief.

"Rey, I don't know what the hell you're talking about. You saw the drawing, they picked names out of a bowl! I didn't know who they were picking just as much as you did! Why does it even matter, you're here now ," he pleaded, a tinge of fear entering his voice.

"It matters, Ben! If you--if they--" she had trouble articulating her thoughts. "If you forced me here by not giving the drawing a fair chance...then you forced my feelings. And I'm not okay with that."

"I swear Rey, I have no idea what you're talking about."

She wanted to believe him, oh did she want to believe him. But the hurt inside her swirled like a feral animal, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

"How can I believe you?" The venom dropped from her voice, replaced only by a quiet sadness as she slumped her shoulders. "They're all rigged. If it wasn't you, then who? Who would do this to me?"

He approached her timidly, ready to be smacked away, but Rey was listless as he collected her into his arms, stroking a comforting hand up and down her back.

"Show me."


	13. Chapter13

He hated attention.

It was the worst thing about being Benjamin Organa Solo, Crown Prince of the New Republic.

He especially hated being on The Report. Usually, he skirted by in the background, Hux always focusing most of the attention on Leia and other special guest speakers, usually various cabinet members speaking to different political efforts.

Today would be the worst installment to date. Because he was going to be the center of attention.

When his mother told him two months ago that it was time for him to find a wife, he scoffed. They had never bothered him about it before. He was thirty, sure, but there was no way to meet women. He lived a very isolated life, surrounded by politics and decorum and not a whole lot of friends.

And he hated nearly all the other royals of different countries he'd met over the years.

So he'd refused.

Eventually Leia had worn him down, because she was a master at that. He wasn't thrilled about it, but he knew the short, tumultuous history of their country. How continuing tradition would help with some of the unrest.

Even Snoke seemed to think it was a good idea. That had been the deciding factor for Ben, to allow his mother to marry him off to a random woman.

Snoke had always been a fixture in Ben's life, for as long as he could remember. He was one of Leia's closest advisors, and spent a significant time in the palace. Any time Ben would see him around the palace, the man always had a piece of candy or a small present for him.

As he grew older and began shadowing his mother in her meetings, Snoke started to transform from benevolent man to confidant. He made himself available to listen to Ben anytime the young man found himself frustrated with a decision his mother made, or anytime his father took a trip back to Corellia to see his best friend. Even when his uncle Luke stopped making regular appearances at the palace, Snoke was there.

His parents didn't understand. Leia became distrustful of how close the two of them were, but as Ben took over more and more royal duties, he was adamant that Snoke was to stay on the payroll. Han wouldn't talk politics with either of them, but Ben could sense his uneasiness about the old man.

It didn't matter. He would be in charge soon enough.

"Ready, your highness?" An assistant's voice called from the doorway. Ben straightened his tie one more time in the mirror, and followed the tech to the stage.

Tonight he would be discovering the twelve women across the country who would be competing for his hand in marriage.

He took his seat at the direction of the tech, wiping his hand on his dress pants, trying to shake the nerves. He had been appearing on the show weekly since he was a kid, but he could never shake the small amount of stage fright, though he had long ago managed to control it enough to not let it affect how he interacted with Hux and others on the show he interacted with.

He zoned out through most of the first half of the episode, knowing everything that Leia was discussing by heart. All too soon, though, he saw Hux gesturing to him, and he got up and made his way to the hot seat.

He barely paid attention to what he was saying, the nerves overtaking him as Hux peppered him with questions about love and marriage. Blissfully, eventually, Hux turned to the camera and announced it was time to select from each bowl.

One by one, Ben was flashed a picture of the chosen woman on a screen and their province. He knew the camera was on him, and they would be broadcasting his every reaction to everyone in the country. So he kept his face neutral, a pleasant smile plastered on his visage as he watched woman after woman be displayed to him.

He remembered one girl, Bazine he thought he heard her name was? Pass on the screen, and feeling a hollow emptiness. He was underwhelmed, passing a quick judgment that she would no doubt be in it for the fame and fortune and not give a shit about him. He worried this would be the case with all the women, and resigned himself to misery for the next however how long until his mom and Snoke ultimately made him choose someone.

Then he saw her.

The next girl that showed up, he missed her name entirely because he was distracted by her radiant smile and her warm eyes. She looked good, wholesome and wonderful and untainted. Her chestnut hair was surrounding her face, a nice contrast to her hazel eyes.

Jakku. He'd have to remember that.

He knew his face betrayed his interest, neutral expression lost for a moment as his eyes widened and an infinitesimal gasp escaped him. He schooled his features in an instant, refusing to betray any sort of first impression or favoritism for one contestant or another. But none of the other faces he saw that night affected him in the same way.

He hoped she would be as good and kind as her picture indicated. He knew a little bit about Jakku; she was likely not an upper class member of society. Snoke would probably want her gone in the first batch.

He didn't know if he would agree with that.

"Show me."

Rey looked at him, the skepticism clear on her face. She didn't believe him, that he had no idea what she was talking about. She wiped the tears from her eyes, wiping them on the dirty jeans she was sporting. Were those oil stains? Was she spending time with Han? Another question for another time, he surmised. He needed to focus on the immediate issue.

Rey reluctantly stood up, nodding minutely and marching out the door, not bothering to wait for him. He scrambled past her, brushing past Finn at her door, tipping his head in thanks as they set off down the corridor. Rey walked with purpose, not speaking to him and not particularly caring if he kept up with her brisk pace.

He followed her down a couple floors and several less-traversed hallways to a storage room.

"Rey, how did you even find this place?" He wondered allowed, curious as to how she discovered a room he had never set foot in. She didn't respond to him, apparently still unsure of whether or not to trust him, and stomped over to a table in the back with familiar glass bowls. She found the bowl labeled Jakku, and shoved a handful of papers into his hand. He unfurled them one by one.

Rey Johnson.

Rey Johnson.

Rey Johnson.

What was happening , he thought to himself as she started rummaging through other bowls, her suspicions seeming to be further confirmed as she tossed aside strip after strip of paper with repeat names everywhere.

This was supposed to be random, was it not? He distinctly remembered Hux saying random. Why not get a say in it, if it wasn't?

"Rey, you have to believe me, I had no idea about any of this." She crossed her arms, her body language screaming don't test me , but he pushed forward. "I thought it was a random lottery, that's what everyone told me. I never saw a single application, I found out with Hux and you and the rest of the country. You have to believe me, sweetheart." He begged further, closing the distance between them and clutching her elbows. She didn't shrug him off, and he took that as progress.

"Who then?" She asked, the venom in her voice evident. He knew that voice well, the spitfire he had fallen for immediately before he even realized.

He saw her before she noticed him.

He had been in a side parlor on the first floor, unwinding with a glass of scotch after a tense day with Snoke. The days seemed tense more often that not, since he had shouldered more than half the royal responsibilities. Leia had been teaching him for years, now starting to take a backseat and shadowing him as he started to exercise his discretion and leadership skills with the royal cabinet, only interceding when her opinions vastly differed from his.

Snoke had slowly transformed from the extra pair of ears he had been to a firm hand trying to steer Ben's decisions. When Ben used to welcome the advice, now it became a burden, often disagreeing with his closest friend and adviser growing up.

He was contemplating the last argument he'd had that day with Snoke, coincidentally about The Choice. Snoke had encouraged Ben to take immediate action, to cut a girl after the first impressions. Show decisiveness and conviction, Snoke had said.

Ben had disagreed.

He then saw a flash of color fly across his periphery, the blur walking through the gardens outside. He stood up, glass in hand, and sauntered over to the window that looked out to the various shrubs and topiaries that created the gardens, seeing the girl from Jakku stop short on the path, looking out around her as if finding the beauty in her surroundings rush out.

His body moved of its own volition, placing the glass down on the nearest surface and feet finding their way outside into the gardens after her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't expect anyone to be out here." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could craft them. A lie, obviously, but she didn't need to know that.

She spun around, and her appraisal of him didn't escape his notice. He watched as she took in his appearance,and he tried not to squirm from self consciousness. He capitalized on that moment to take her in as well, drinking in her features in person.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't studied her application the most out of the other contestants.

He was supposed to, of course. He had been instructed to be well versed in every girl's resume, to act like they had already been acquainted. To make the women feel seen, recognized, whatever. The other women were all a passing glance compared to how many times he had looked at her profile.

Rey .

The name suited her.

His mouth continued to run faster than his brain. He vaguely recognized that he had asked her if she was okay.

Then, it suddenly wasn't going well.

She was angry. At him? At her situation? Surely the women would all be tripping over his feet to impress him, despite his abject horror at the thought. No one had ever been so honest and blunt with him.

Well, except maybe Snoke.

He chucked at something she said. That was apparently the wrong action, since her voice got more irate as she advanced on him, and he kept making it worse somehow by continuing to speak without thinking. Then his brain caught up with his body as she said something disturbing.

"Taken advantage of? What on earth are you talking about?" He asked in disbelief.

The things she said to him then were unbelievable. She thought he wanted in her knickers, now? They hadn't even been formally introduced! She certainly had the wrong idea about him.

He immediately tried to rectify the situation, raising his hands and taking steps towards her.

Crack!

He stumbled backwards, hand up to his cheek as he reeled from her slap.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll find somewhere else to just go cheer up, per your request," he heard her say, and she pivoted on the heel of her foot and stomped off. He watched her retreat, hand still on his cheek.

Oh yeah, he was done for already.

"Who then?" She asked again, when he didn't respond. He stumbled over to an empty armchair in the room, collapsing into it as he took everything in.

Someone was orchestrating his whole life. He couldn't have a single choice that was his own. He thought of his mother, and dismissed the thought almost immediately. For as much as they didn't get along, he knew deep down she wanted him to find true happiness.

Snoke? He didn't want to believe it, but no one else fit the bill. He had pushed The Choice hard on Ben, and he hadn't been wary enough of the support of an initiative his mother spearheaded.

If it was Snoke, why rig all of them, why not just pick his favorite and influence Ben that way? Ben surmised Snoke hadn't wanted to leave it to chance, if that were the case.

"Snoke," he spoke the word aloud softly, a tremble in his voice.

Rey approached him then, standing behind his chair and dropping her hands to his shoulders. He was comforted by the gesture, her touch instantly calming him.

"That crinkly bastard?" She asked, rubbing her hands into his shoulders. He snorted at that.

"Crinkly?"

"Yeah. He looks like a shriveled raisin. Haven't trusted him since the second I saw him. And I've seen how he treats you."

He shifted in his seat, beckoning her to come around so he could see her. She obliged, and he settled her in his lap. She seemed stiff, uncertain still at his touch, but he relished in her closeness.

"When have you seen how he treats me?" He asked, working hard to keep his voice even and not let the inner turmoil out. He tried to shield that from all the women, especially Rey. How his friendship with his mentor had turned from one of amiability to shouting matches and more than one physical reprimand from the old man. He shifted in his seat.

"The day you gave me these jeans, actually. I saw you two arguing out in the courtyard outside the Ladies Room. He was…I couldn't hear anything but I could tell. Your body language. I don't...I hate the guy."

They sat in silence for several moments, reflecting on that moment. Ben remembered it vividly; Snoke had wanted Ben to get rid of Rey several times over already at that point, and he had turned around and given Rey an elaborate gift. He remembered how he'd quickly folded under the pressure Snoke had applied, forcefully encouraging him to take it seriously and why hadn't he eliminated anyone yet.

He had given Ben an ultimatum that day, to eliminate a woman or else Snoke would. So he'd sent home Kana.

He took no joy in it, but the woman had seemed to understand. They'd only had a handful of conversations in the weeks she had been in the palace, and she left without incident.

He remembered Snoke hadn't been thrilled by it. But he hadn't disobeyed the man, so he backed off for a time.

"I think he wanted me to send you home that day," Ben vocalized his ruminations, and Rey peered down at him. Her hands had been clutching each other in her lap, and she slowly moved one from its resting place to wrap around his shoulder, leaning into him. They both seemed to relax slightly at the embrace, and he let out a long sigh.

"That would explain…" she trailed off, biting her lip.

"Explain what?" Ben asked, and she seemed reticent to elaborate. "Sweetheart, explain what ?"

"Last night at The Report. He was in the corner of the room, lurking. Staring right at me. I've never felt so targeted, and he didn't even speak to me. I just knew he was looking at me, the disdain evident on his face."

Ben took his hand resting on her knee and dragged it down his face.

Last night .

Last night he'd had another blowout with Snoke. With the stress of the drill they'd had a while back, the unrest they heard about in Parnassus, and the ever increasing pressure from Snoke and even his mother to narrow the field of women, the fight he'd had was on another level.

Snoke had obviously noticed how much attention Ben was paying to Rey. He urged Ben to cut her now, evict her quietly that night to avoid a scene. Ben had never vehemently disagreed with his mentor on anything, but the suggestion was unconscionable.

They argued, voices escalating louder and louder until it devolved into a screaming match in Snoke's private office.

"You better at least pretend to date these other women, or I'm going to have to step in," Snoke had said, voice dripping with menace as he shoved Ben.

Ben fumed at the comment, picking up a glass tumbler and launching it at the wall before storming out of Snoke's office, not listening to the old man's calls for him to come back.

The sensation of Rey stroking her fingers through his hair brought him back to himself, and he realized he had been holding his breath, shaking. He released a heavy sigh, gripping her tighter to him on his lap.

"Where did you go? Just now?" Rey asked, noticing he had come back into himself.

"I think...this is not what I had wanted," he said vaguely, his hand digging into her hip so tightly he momentarily considered if she would have a bruise there later. Some physical representation that this nightmare was real.

"What do you mean?" Rey asked, her voice wavering. "You wish I wasn't here?"

His eyes jumped from the middle distance they had been lost to, directly to meet her eyes.

"Oh, no sweetheart, absolutely not," he quickly backpedaled, realizing how his words came across. "If anything, you're the only real thing about any of this." He felt an infinitesimal relaxation from her in his arms. "Something is wrong here, though. Why rig it to begin with? Why rig everyone?" He started wondering aloud, again forgetting Rey was in the room with him. He stood abruptly, effectively pushing Rey off his lap as he began to pace.

"It's Snoke," Rey voiced from somewhere behind him. He waved his hand dismissively, as if that was preposterous.

"No, I'm serious , Ben. You didn't see how he looked at me. He hates me so much. I don't know why they picked me, if he hates me so much, but I just know he's behind this."

"You can't know that, Rey. You don't know him like I do."

"I don't need to know him, Ben! I can see the effect he has on you. The control. It's ruining you."

"He's been the only person there for me so many times in my life. Mom was too busy running the damn country, and Dad was too busy avoiding running the damn country. I can't make sense of this. How could he be the one behind this, he's always had my best interests at heart?"

He looked at her in disbelief, as if something finally dawned on him. She was the first person to fully understand him, to be honest with him. To care for him. She radiated goodness from her entire being. He'd internalized every comment she'd made over the last couple of months, about her upbringing. He couldn't imagine someone with that tough of a life, continuing to have such a positive outlook on the world. On him .

He couldn't reconcile that with his claim of Snoke having his best interests at heart. The man was actively advising Ben to toss Rey away like garbage. The only good thing in his life, and Snoke was adamant about removing her like she was a loaf of moldy bread. And Ben had always blindly followed him. Even when Snoke and his mother were at odds, he had sided with Snoke more often than not.

What had he gotten himself into?

"I...I don't know what's going on, sweetheart, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this," he vowed, his pacing stopped again as he just drank her in. In that moment, amidst all the uncertainty, the potential of his closest mentor being a closet manipulator, he had to be secretly thankful that it wasn't random. Somehow, this girl was the one predetermined to fill the role from Jakku. He thought maybe Snoke, or whoever was behind this, must have thought she would be an easy, early dismissal.

And yet, as he observed her worrying her lip, sitting back and working through the little information they had, he was finding it impossible to imagine what The Choice would be like without her here.

He knew he had feelings for her already, strong feelings, and now that she perceived a threat to her stay here in the palace, he quickly realized there was not much he wouldn't do for this woman. This tenacious, gorgeous, humble, brilliant woman in front of him, who was likely plotting how to take down Snoke before he even fully admitted to himself the man was behind this.

"Hey, look at me," he interrupted her thoughts, taking a few steps closer to her and wrapping both arms around her hips, pulling her to him. She rested her chin on his chest, as if it were the most natural place in the world for her to be and she peered up into his eyes.

"You're not going anywhere. Not if I have anything to say about it. And, last time I checked, I am the prince." She giggled softly at that as he rubbed small circles into her back. "Let's get you back to your rooms. I don't want anyone knowing you've been snooping around, and Rose is probably worried sick about you."

They pulled away from each other, but not losing contact as Ben slid his hand into Rey's, intertwining their fingers as he gently pulled her out of the room and along the hallway. They walked slowly back down the corridor, her head on his shoulder.

Both of them missed the bald, shadowy figure spying on them in the corner of the hallway.


	14. Chapter14

Rey bade Ben a tearful goodbye at the landing, not wanting any wandering eyes of the other contestants seeing him escort her back to her rooms. It had been a long day, and she needed to process everything she'd learned alone. She hoped Rose wouldn't give her too much trouble for her impending request to be left alone and have dinner brought to her room.

She rounded the corner so her door was in sight. But Finn was not in front of it like he usually was. Was he off-duty already? Occasionally there was a secondary guard posted in front of her door, most of the guards rotated between the girls to keep things interesting, but the backup guard wasn't even there.

She worried her lip between her teeth, wondering where he could have gone. She reached the door, turning the handle and pushing it open, crossing the threshold.

She found Finn.

He spun around to face her, Rose partially hidden by his larger frame.

"Rey!" He called, surprise evident in his voice. "We didn't know when you would be back."

She suppressed a smile, trying to pretend to look affronted with how she caught her attendant and her guard. Her two best friends in the palace, aside from Kaydel, spending secret time together and growing closer filled her heart to the brim.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" She chided, failing to keep the smile from creeping on her face. Rose peeked out from behind Finn's shoulder then, hearing the amusement in her voice and stepping out to approach her.

"Lady Rey, Nothing happened! I know he shouldn't have been in here, I should be more professional—"

Rey cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Oh Rose. I'm happy for you guys! Why not let something happen?" She said with a wink in Finn's direction. He grabbed Rose's hand, intertwining their fingers, and all three of them admired the embrace for a moment. Rey was filled with a burst of happiness for her friends, for Finn especially, who'd been uprooted from his life just like she had and dropped in a foregin place.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you guys," Rey said, moving to her sitting area and collapsing onto the small sofa. "It's actually kind of perfect. I'd really prefer some alone time, so I don't think I need either of you right now."

"Rey, are you okay?" Rose inquired, looking back at Finn briefly before releasing his hand and taking a few steps toward Rey. She raised her hand up to stop Rose and nodded.

"Yes, I'll be fine. What I meant was, I think the two of you don't need to be here, at your posts. And can go have the evening off." She winked obviously, and Rose grinned widely as she understood Rey's implications.

"Of course, my lady," she said, in an over-professional tone. "Would you like me to stop by the kitchens on my way out and have them send your dinner directly to your room?"

"That would be spectacular, I really don't feel like being around people right now." She stood then, grabbing Rose in a sisterly hug, which Rose readily returned.

"Don't have too much fun now, ya hear? That man's like a brother to me," Rey joked, holding Rose by the shoulders as they withdrew from their hug.

Rose winked back at her, releasing her hold on Rey and stepping back, Rey's hands falling from her friend's shoulders.

"Now go on, get," she teased, and the two of them walked out of her room, once again hand in hand

She fondly watched them go, sinking back into her seat on the couch and resting her head back on the top of the cushions.

How could she even unpack everything that unfolded today? Her emotions had been a complete whirlwind from the moment she'd left Han's garage. She knew something had been off-kilter about that Snoke character from the moment she laid eyes on him. And it had taken Ben until now to see this guy was bad news. Still Ben was having trouble reconciling the man's deeds and Ben's own mutated, twisted vision of who his mentor was.

Her heart broke for Ben in that moment. They'd had a rocky day, after her revelations and panic, and he had done nothing but be a veritable rock. This couldn't have been easy for him, his whole world slowly shattering around him as he realized the closest mentor in his life was also pulling strings behind closed doors for unseen reasons. Did Snoke get off on holding power over Ben? Did he want to rule the country himself, and influencing Ben was the best way to do it?

Her racing thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door, a member of the staff letting themselves into her room with a rolling cart laden with food. They wordlessly set up the decadent meal, complete with salad and dessert courses, and bowed on their way out to a feeble thank you from Rey.

She stood up then, ignoring the food for now to rifle through her armoire for her nightgown and robe. She wanted out of these clothes, and the briefest of thoughts flitted through her mind that she wanted out of this palace.

Surely that wasn't how she felt? She examined the thought as she dressed, grabbing the chocolate cake from the tray and crawling into bed. There were things she disliked about being here, of course; it was so different than everything else about her life had been up to this point. When she first arrived so long ago, at least a couple months by now, she lost track of time; if anyone had asked her in her first week to go home, she would have done it gladly. She'd expected to every time she turned around, convinced she didn't belong there.

If Snoke had rigged all the names, which she surmised to be the case, why her? She'd asked this question so many times, and as she savored the rich flavor of the fudgy cake, her brain circled back to it yet again.

What would Snoke want with a nobody in the running? The only solution she could come to was he wanted to leave nothing up to chance. He must have carefully constructed each selection in order to stack the deck in his favor. Who were his preferred picks? Bazine, naturally. She rolled her eyes thinking of the woman. She hadn't talked much with Ariel since her date with the Prince awhile back, and Dana had always been frosty to most everyone except Bazine, so Rey supplied her conspiring mind with other people that Snoke would want on the throne next to Ben. For different reasons, she guessed. Bazine seemed to be cut from the same cloth as Snoke; vindictive, conniving, and brash. Ariel was so nice, but meek and unassuming. She wondered if he selected her to be an easy pawn, someone that wouldn't put up resistance against anything Snoke tried.

But Rey.

Rey must have been a throwaway, an easy cut at the beginning. The poor girl from the poor area of the country, with nothing to offer the Prince except her pluckiness and lack of fear in speaking her mind. That apparently was a detriment to the shriveled man, a strong-willed woman who didn't agree with everything he said.

She polished off the last of the cake, trying to clear her mind of Snoke's motivations. He was a lurking predator, a nefarious villain that somehow wormed his way into Ben's and the royal family's life, and she would work with Ben to figure out how to extricate the man from power. She just hoped Ben would be there with her every step of the way.

She felt confident, strong in what she was building with Ben, once she allowed herself to develop and communicate her feelings. To hear him affirm them, to see his actions towards her, she grew closer to him every single day. It was the last thing she had ever imagined happening, and yet it was the most natural thing in the world to her. She couldn't fathom her life being any other way in that moment, despite the uphill battle they would no doubt climb.

There were still so many women, though. Only two women had left. She knew she had done an atrocious job up to this point being his "spy," but once they had admitted feelings to each other she basically stopped caring about finding him a different suitable wife.

Wife .

She tried not to let that word make a home in her head.

She didn't know what he did the rest of the times when she didn't see him, when she wasn't in the Ladies Room. She had seen him come calling for most of the women at one time or another, and always tried to tamp down the prick of jealousy low in her belly. He was required to do that, to court these women to find a suitable partner, not only for himself but for the country.

But what if, in performing his duties, he forged another bond, a stronger bond, with one of the other women?

She wished she had another piece of chocolate cake to deal with that line of thinking.

The next day found the contestants again in the Ladies Room, the last of their weekend slipping through their fingers.

Until mid-morning, when Amilyn came in, clapping her hands to gather everyone's attention.

"You girls are in for a treat!" She announced, and everyone stopped what they were doing to focus on her. "The Prince has decided that he wants to spend time with all of you, away from the stuffy interior of the palace walls. So, he is humbly requesting your presence at 2 p.m. this afternoon in the front gardens. You'll have free time until then to get ready, we're having your attendants bring you some outdoor clothes for the occasion."

"What will we be doing?" Tiana chimed in from across the room.

"That is Prince Ben's secret," Amilyn said with a cheshire grin. "But I'm sure you will all be happy to get out of the house and have a little bit of fun!" She nodded to the women and turned around, retreating from the room.

The girls tittered around Rey, who was sitting off to the side with Kaydel and Jessika.

"What do you think it'll be?" Jessika asked in their smaller group. Rey shrugged, but Kaydel looked excited.

"I don't really even care what it is. I've been on a couple walks with the prince in the courtyard, but I haven't been outside much other than that. I just can't wait to soak up the sun!"

That throwaway comment about Kaydel's walks with the prince shouldn't have frozen Rey to the spot, but they did.

"Oh that sounds so peaceful! I worked in a pastry shop back home, so the times I've spent with him have mostly been in the kitchens. I've given him a baking lesson on how to make meringue, and then the other time we just sat and tried a bunch of desserts."

Kaydel shared in Jessika's excitement, but Rey could barely muster a smile in Jessika's direction at the revelation. He had been going on dates with these other women, she assumed that to be the case. She just didn't realize it would actually bother her so much, especially when it sounded like he constructed thoughtful activities for each of them. Had she even been on a proper, formal date with him? All the time she had with him was by chance, or stolen moments when everyone assumed the Prince was keeping to himself.

She noticed both her companions were looking at her.

"What was it?" She asked, presuming she'd missed something.

"What kinds of things have you done with the prince?" Kaydel asked. "We know you're his favorite, I'm sure he's taken you on some extravagant outings."

"I don't know about favorite…" Rey trailed off, rubbing her arm in a nervous gesture. "But honestly, we haven't done much. He knows I like the gardens, so we usually just walk around there and sit and talk, or on my balcony."

"He's been in your room??? " Jessika shrieked, and a couple of the other women looked over in interest as Rey shushed her.

"Shhhh, Jessika, not so loud. I suppose I thought that was normal? It's only been a couple times, mostly we stick to the gardens."

"Have you guys…you know?"

"No, Jessika of course not!" Rey scoffed. "He's nothing if not a gentleman, and I don't think I'm ready for anything like that."

The silence washed over them, not unfriendly, but each girl lost herself to their own thoughts. They had been able to mostly avoid talking about it, but there were moments, like now, where they couldn't skirt around the fact that they were all dating the same man.

Luckily, they were interrupted by their dismissal to get ready for their outing with the prince, and Rey followed her friends up to the level with all the girls' rooms, splitting off to get changed and ready.

Poe must have come and gone while she was out, because there was a new set of capri pants laid on her bed with a billowy peasant top in a salmon pink color. Rey smiled softly at the sight, tracing her fingers along the material of the shirt before picking the garments up and heading to the bathroom to change. Rose had set an assortment of toiletries out for Rey, and she touched up her own makeup and hair as she got dressed. Before long it was time to head out to their designated meeting spot.

The grounds were always stunning, but the front gardens had been transformed, an area roped off ahead. More of it came into view as Rey approached the area, and she noticed there were 10 archery lanes set up on one end of the designated space, and on the other end were several round tables laden with white tablecloths, a handful of chairs at each, and an elaborate purple ribbon tied around the base of each table to prevent the wind from lifting the coverings.

She was one of the first women there, having taken the minimal amount of time to get ready, and arrived to see Ben deep in conversation with Natalya. She tried to stamp down her jealousy at the sight; they were a respectable distance apart, having what seemed to be a cordial chat, and yet Rey couldn't help but need to know what they were talking about. Was she winning him over with her wit?

Ben looked up, almost as if he could hear her thoughts, and smiled widely. "Rey! Come join us," he said, gesturing to the space between himself and Natalya. If he had looked back, he would've seen the sour look on the other woman's face, clearly not thrilled that Rey had crashed their private moment.

"Are we learning archery?" Rey asked, trying to diffuse the tension. She gave a quick curtsy to Ben, as was recommended by proper etiquette in a public setting, and he gave a quick bow in return, a genuine smile on his face as he turned to face the targets.

"We are. I was just telling Natalya that this is my absolute favorite outdoor activity. I've been meaning to do something with you ladies all together, and I thought what better than to release some tension and shoot some arrows?" Rey had fully joined the little circle now, and couldn't help but eye Natalya as she very obviously rubbed her hand up and down Ben's arm a few times, then looped her arm through his to link them.

"I thought it was a splendid idea," Natalya said, looking only at Ben and acting as if Rey weren't even there. She averted her eyes, as if she were invading on an incredibly private moment, and took what was hopefully an inconspicuous deep breath. Ben, to his credit, looked uncomfortable with the touch, clearing his throat and stepping back as naturally as possible so that Natalya's arm had to drop.

He stepped a few paces towards the entrance of the gardens, where more of the women were now approaching. Soon enough, everyone had gathered and Ben was announcing to the group that they were going to have a private archery lesson with him right there in the front gardens. Stationed at the end of each lane was a bucket of arrows and a bow, each with a small name tag attached to the side of the bucket.

Rey found her spot, on the far end of the range so that no one was on her left. Unfortunately, she was placed right beside Bazine. The woman was nearly insufferable on a good day; Rey did not want to have to be next to this woman for who knew how long, pretending to be cordial and playing nice. She hoped Bazine would keep to herself.

After a demonstration from Ben on the proper stance and technique, the girls were released to start practicing. There were a couple of royal archery staff milling about as well, correcting grips and aims as the ten ladies started aiming for their targets.

Rey was dreadful.

Her first shot fell directly to her feet, barely even leaving the bow. The second didn't go much further, about a foot away from her. One of the royal archers was on permanent standby to help her posture and grip, to try to release the tension in her shoulders, but their presence just made her more stressed about it all. Somehow one of her arrows flew up at a forty-five degree angle, clearing the targets and getting lost in the hedges behind it.

She cast a furtive glance around her after that, and breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't the only one struggling, but she was by far the worst. The cherry on top of this terrible activity was the fact that Bazine was shooting bullseye after bullseye.

She knew she was the best one out there, and that infuriated Rey more. She rolled her eyes, thankful she was facing Bazine's back, and aimed again.

After a few more dismal shots, Rey was distracted as Ben started making his way down the line, one by one, visiting with each woman. He would watch them shoot, offer some advice, make some small talk, and move on. Or what she hoped was small talk. She couldn't hear most of his conversations, being so far down the row.

She felt on edge, frustration simmering near a boil at her lack of archery ability and the fact that Dana had just busted out laughing so clearly he was having a fun conversation with her. By the time he found his way to Bazine, she had given up all pretense of even trying to notch her arrow.

She made eye contact briefly with Ben as he stepped up to Bazine's lane, and he just quirked his lips up in a smirk and nodded his head towards her target. She blushed slightly at his meaning, and looked away to give it an honest go.

Except she promptly dropped the arrow again when out of her periphery she saw him place a hand on Bazine's shoulder.

She swore under her breath, bending down to pick up the arrow and had the unfortunate pleasure of hearing bits and pieces of their conversation.

"...you're a very accomplished archer," she heard Ben say, followed by a shrill laugh from Bazine.

"Oh Ben, you kill me." Rey stood, righting herself and re-notching the arrow, sneaking another quick glance. He had mercifully dropped his hand, but then she tossed her sleek, long black hair and placed her hand on Ben's shoulder, and for some reason that made Rey's blood boil just a little hotter.

"I just can't believe some of these women can't even hit the target!" Rey heard, accompanied by another shrill laugh, and it took everything in her power to not throw the bow and arrow down and stalk off. Instead, she refocused on the target, and let an arrow fly.

It grazed the white rounded edge at the very top of the target before flipping over itself and falling to the ground right behind it.

Well, that was progress.

She was so worked up that she was preparing another arrow and did not notice Ben take his leave from the terrible woman Rey was stationed next to. She pulled her arm back, ready to release, when she felt a light pressure on her right shoulder and a low voice in her left ear.

"Relax."

She released a furious breath through her nose.

"I am relaxed."

Ben let out an earnest laugh at that, but luckily still quiet enough that it did not attract the attention of her neighbor.

"Here, you're standing all wrong." Ben placed his other hand on her hip, slightly guiding her to adjust her stance. Her heart fluttered a little at the touch, and she was thankful no one was behind her to witness their close embrace. He didn't pull away after he fixed her stance, and he was so close she could feel the fabric of his shirt against her back.

"Easy does it," he encouraged her, gently brushing his hand along her bare shoulder, causing a light involuntary shiver to run through her. She reared her arm back, a newfound confidence with Ben right behind her, aimed her bow, and released.

It hit the bottom left of Bazine's target.

Bazine whipped around to Rey, and she felt a loss of where Ben's body heat had been only seconds before as he pulled back to a respectable distance, now that they had an audience.

"How dare you aim for me!" Bazine shrieked.

Rey opened her mouth to retort, but luckily Ben sensed the tension and stepped in.

"Bazine, darling," Rey's eyes rolled so hard in the back of her head at his use of the detestable nickname. She was glad they had their own private names for each other. Away from the charades of the Choice. "I don't think she was aiming for you, of course not," she heard Ben try to soothe the woman, her hysterical antics causing the attention of everyone in the garden to focus on her. Which was probably exactly what she wanted.

He spent an extra five minutes consoling Bazine while the rest of the girls eventually gave up their efforts and made their way to the tables set up, gathering some snacks from the various trays and visiting with each other. Rey kept company with Kaydel and Jessika as always, and this time they were joined by Gwen, who had started spending more time with them as of late.

Eventually he calmed Bazine down, and she took her seat next to Dana at one of the other tables. The tea portion of the event passed uneventfully, the women making small talk about the event, their archery skills, their time with the prince. Rey kept quiet this time, not willing to bring extra unwanted attention to her relationship with Ben. They were...not advanced, per se, but she was beginning to understand from how the other women talked, that she had something different with Ben.

Something organic.

The women, save for Gwen, fawned over him constantly and waxed poetic over every little thing he did for them. Every detail of each of their dates. Rey had felt jealous when she first heard about how thoughtful he had been with the other women. But now it felt almost contrived, like he didn't know much else about each person other than a few details with which to set up an outing around.

It gave her a little flutter of hope. She knew their feelings were real, but she couldn't stop herself from starting to wonder if he had developed real feelings for any of the other women in this contest.

Little by little, the conversations started to wind down and women slowly started making their way back up to the castle, thanking Ben for the wonderful afternoon as they took their leave. Rey sat, twirling her fancy water glass and staring at the bow and arrow.

She took another swig, and as her tablemates headed back up, she waved a goodbye to them and wandered back over to her archery lane. The supplies hadn't been cleaned up yet, so she took advantage of the thinning crowd to make another attempt at landing her arrow on the target.

She heard people continue to retreat, and knew she was pretty much alone out in the garden. She relished in the alone time, the rare chance she didn't have to share her energy with other people. She tried to remember everything Ben showed her, and wished he had stuck around to maybe give her a private lesson.

After a couple failed shots, she heard the telltale sounds of a clearing throat behind her. She smiled to herself, thinking she knew exactly who it was. She turned around, ready to tease Ben when--

It wasn't Ben standing in front of her.

It was Snoke.

She curtsied, too shocked to do anything else. She had seen him from a distance, been victim to his piercing stare, but had yet to be this close to the man. She wasn't even sure of his first name.

"Well, well Miss Johnson, I'm so pleased to make your acquaintance," the old man crooned, his voice deceivingly smooth.

"Nice to meet you, Mr…" she trailed off. She knew his surname, but she couldn't remember if she was supposed to know his surname.

"You can call me Mr. Snoke," he intoned, the look in his eye showing her very clearly that he didn't buy her act for a second.

"Mr. Snoke. A pleasure." She finished her curtsy and returned to look him directly in the eye. She was unnerved, no desire to be face to face with this despicable man right now, but plucking every nerve within her to be strong.

"I've been watching you, young lady," he said as he began to circle her. She put the arrow she was holding back in the bucket, laying the bow propped up against it. "Seems the prince is quite taken with you."

"Oh, I don't know about that," she tried to backpedal. "He is spending quite a lot of time with all the women. I can only hope."

He narrowed his eyes at that, arresting his pacing. He moved up into her space, his face only a handful of inches from her.

"Don't lie to me, harlot." He seethed. "I've been watching. I've seen how he looks at you. How you look at him. I've seen your secret walks down the castle halls." Her eyes widened at his proclamation, and she was shocked into paralysis.

"I don't know what the man sees in you, you dirty little sandrat," he retreated slightly, regaining his composure, towering over her in height. It was somehow more intimidating than when he was in her face.

"I--" she tried to muster the courage to say something, anything, but her voice was just a squeak before Snoke cut her off.

"Listen here. I have big plans for this country, for this regime. I leave nothing to chance. You are here because you're extraneous. Disposable. To play house for a little bit and then go back to your shithole life. You mean nothing to this family. To this country. You're nothing."

Rey pushed down the tears threatening to well in her eyes at his condescending words. Who did this man think he was? Not only had he cornered her, alone and away from prying eyes, but he had basically confirmed he brought her here as an easy cut, demoralizing her along the way.

"I'm not nothing." She said, her voice wavering more than she would have liked, but proud of herself nonetheless.

He had the gall to laugh .

"I assure you, naive girl, you do not mean a lot to anyone in this country, except maybe your own pitiful family. The prince will be better off the minute you leave this place, mark my words. You may have worked some sort of charm on him, Miss Johnson, but I know him. He will see what's best for him. And when that happens, you'll be back where you belong. In the gutter." He practically spat out those last words.

She didn't immediately respond, too stunned into silence at his threats. He misinterpreted her lack of answer as fear, and smirked slightly, rising up once again to his full height.

"I'm glad we're on the same page, Miss Johnson," his voice was silky smooth once again. "Best be assured this is the only time we'll meet." He gave her a curt nod and stalked off, leaving her behind in disbelief.

She never fooled herself into believing she belonged here. She never assumed she would be the one to win everything.

But to be told that she was nothing, that she was a throwaway, made her livid.

What she had with Ben was real. To hell with Snoke.

She would do what she had to, to make sure their relationship outlasted this man.

She would do what she had to do to secure a future with Ben.


	15. Chapter15

The next day and a half passed in a daze. Rey went through the motions, letting Rose take care of her and Poe plan her outfits for the upcoming week. She rarely left her room, except for meals, and spent a lot of time standing on her balcony, staring out into the horizon.

She was rattled.

Snoke's words kept turning over and over in her head, haunting her thoughts, the awful names of sandrat and harlot clattering around over and over in her brain. She knew she would be an underdog just from where she came from. Hell, she didn't even think she would still be here, nor did she ever imagine she would want to still be here.

Yet so much had changed for her. She felt like, at her core, she was still Rey, the girl from Jakku with a quick temper and a lot of strength to make the best of any situation. But she was different now; her grease stains and overalls had been replaced with makeup and elegant dresses.

Ben had tried, last night at dinner, to catch her eye and bite his thumb, but she averted her eyes and didn't return his signal. She needed to think, to figure out how she was going to handle Snoke. She didn't want to give the man a reason to circumvent the rules and kick her out, and she didn't want to risk being caught with him before she could collect her thoughts.

So she distanced herself from Ben.

Or at least, she tried.

She was startled out of her reverie by a large hand on her shoulder. She had been staring out at the sunset after dinner on her balcony again, trying to contemplate her options. So when she whirled around to face Ben, she should have felt panicked that she had no viable ideas to keep Snoke at bay.

Instead she found comfort in his eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her quickly, soundly, and her hands wound their way around his neck before she even realized. His arms circled around her waist in kind, and he deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue before exploring her mouth. She sighed happily, having missed his touch in the time she had been keeping away to put her head on straight.

She pulled back before she could get lost in him, and gave him another chaste kiss before dropping her arms and stepping out of his reach, resuming her spot and looking back at the setting sun. She felt him step up to occupy the space beside her, and she sighed into him. They stood silently, watching the horizon, and Rey released a huff of air and let out the easiest thing that was weighing on her mind.

"You haven't taken me out on a date yet."

"What?" He shifted her so they were facing each other again, searching her eyes and holding her arms. "We've spent so much time together."

Rey giggled and rolled her eyes. "Yes, we've spent plenty of time together, I'm not denying that. But I kept hearing about these elaborate escapades you've gone on with the other women, and I'm not quite sure how much time we've spent outside this room or the garden."

Ben pondered that for a moment.

"Well I could take you on one right now then, let's go." He turned to lead her back into the room and towards the door when she pulled on his arm to stop him. He instantly turned back around.

"What is it, sweetheart?" He asked, concern etched across his face.

"We can't go now, it's too late! What if people see?"

Ben chuckled. "Who's going to see? Like you said, it's late."

Rey worried her lip between her teeth, her hands still gripping Ben's arm.

"It's nothing."

His soft laughter dissipated instantly, his free hand covering hers. "Rey, talk to me. You've been withdrawn since the archery lesson. I thought we had a great time. What happened?"

Rey kept chewing on her lip, leading Ben inside and over to the small couch where they had sat so many times before. She dropped her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingers.

She sat, opening and shutting her mouth several times, trying to find the right balance of what she wanted to say without sounding like she couldn't handle herself.

"Rey, sweetheart, what is it?" Ben prodded, becoming more concerned by the second. "Do you want to leave? Do you not want...this?"

Rey looked up from where her gaze had been fixated on her hands to meet Ben's. "Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Well, you've been ignoring me the last few days, you're not looking at me and you won't talk to me. I might not be the best at emotions but I can tell when someone is avoiding me." He laughed humorlessly, running a hand through his hair. Rey smiled softly at that, the memory of him suggesting that as their secret signal floating through her mind.

"I'm sorry, Ben. I didn't mean it like that. There's been...it's been…" she trailed off, chewing the inside of her lip. His face was wide open, his emotions etched across every feature and she could acutely feel his confusion and lingering hurt. So she finally took a deep breath and spoke.

"I met Snoke."

Ben's face hardened immediately, springing into action as he started raking his eyes over her form and reaching for her.

"That bastard. Where did he--" he cut off, pushing up the sleeves of her dress and inspecting her face for--

"What are you looking for, Ben?" She asked in genuine confusion. He pulled back, eyes searching hers.

"Did he hurt you?"

"What? No, he didn't. At least not...physically, I guess." He visibly relaxed at that, and she furrowed her brow. "Does he hurt you, Ben?"

He didn't answer her immediately, shifting in his seat, his eyes dropping to the ground as he worked his jaw. She moved one of her hands to his knee, and urged him to look back up at her.

"He...it's complicated. Maybe another time. What did he want? How did you meet him? If he didn't hurt you…"

Rey took a deep breath and recalled to him the events from the other day. Snoke's surprise appearance, the severity of his threats, his confidence that she would be the next to go. As she spoke, she could see Ben's face contort further and further into anger, particularly when she got to the part where she shared certain choice names Snoke had called her. He stood up abruptly when she told him Snoke had called her nothing, his hands balled into fists as he paced back and forth in front of the sofa. She trailed off, having said everything there was to say, and watched him stew.

They were silent for several heavy moments, Rey watching Ben move around the room while she sat, her mind reeling. He finally turned to look at her.

"You're not nothing. You know that, right? It's very important to me that you know that."

She nodded quickly, her eyes immediately filling with unshed tears at his consolation. "I know, Ben. What I don't know...is what we're gonna do."

He stopped pacing and regarded her then. His eyes were vulnerable, a mix of fear and anger swirling in his irises.

"We'll figure something out. I won't let him kick you out. He's not even supposed to have a say. He…" Ben clenched his fists again, but he was standing close enough to the couch that Rey reached out and grabbed one of them, massaging his hand until he loosened his grip and let her link their fingers together.

"I don't want to go, Ben."

"You're not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it, sweetheart. Let me think about this. I'll figure something out."

He came over and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head and squeezed her hand. He mumbled a soft goodbye into her hair and left. Rey sat in the same spot for a long time after that, pondering what was going to happen. She was a little miffed he didn't want to devise a plan together, that he thought she couldn't help him figure it out, but she could imagine how much pressure he was under. Everything he knew about this man was slowly coming undone, and she had to allow him to process that.

She decided she would do what she could to make things easier for Ben, for everyone. She would throw herself into the lessons Holdo conducted, be amiable to the other contestants. Try not to pick fights with Bazine. Anything that could show she was adaptable, that she could be the epitome of a lady.

A week later found Rey sticking to her word and attempting to pay attention in each of the lessons. She found it easiest to be kind to Bazine by never interacting with her, and kept a wide buffer of distance from the woman whenever possible. Rey found that the lessons were actually interesting, when she paid attention. They learned more about the history of the country, the fight against the regime that called themselves the Empire, how the monarchy in its infancy knew that they would need something like The Choice in order to bring the new nation together after decades of fighting.

She hadn't really seen Ben since. He'd come in from time to time to say a quick hello to everyone, and had taken a couple girls out on dates. She tried not to let it bother her. She knew what a precarious position they were in, but he hadn't been to her room either since the night she told him everything about Snoke.

She tried to swallow the growing jealousy in the pit of her stomach when Holdo closed the book she was reading from and cleared her throat.

"Okay ladies, something very exciting is happening! The queen's brother, Luke, is planning a visit to the palace to see his family! He hasn't made the trip in quite some time, so we thought it would be a splendid idea to throw him a welcome gala!"

Rey's eyebrows shot up at that. She didn't know much about Ben's mysterious uncle, but a lavish gala didn't seem to be his idea of a good time. The other women around her didn't seem to share in the same hesitation though. The gossip broke out immediately between them, giggling and tittering about what they were going to wear, what Ben would look like, how much dancing there would be. Amilyn cleared her throat and the room quieted.

"You will all be helping plan the gala. Think of it as a training exercise. If you are chosen by the prince to be his princess, you will be the de facto committee chair for any and all events, parties, diplomatic visits, etcetera. You will need to hone these skills."

Rey internally groaned. She had been doing her best to dive headfirst into the royal life, learning the lessons and practicing proper etiquette. But to party plan? She'd never so much as organized her own birthday party.

"Now, you won't have much time, the gala will be next Saturday evening. This will give you just over a week and a half to pull everything together. You will need to plan decor, entertainment, food, everything. Everything is at your disposal, and I will be here to aid you, but I am not doing the work for you. We've rearranged your schedules to allow for the rest of the day to brainstorm amongst yourselves on how you want to tackle this. I'll leave you all to it."

Amilyn retreated to a corner of the room as conversation broke out. It was chaos at first, several of the women speaking over each other to get their ideas and opinions heard. Rey sat back, observing it all and not commenting on anything. There were talks of costume parties and masquerades, mixed with heated debates on sit-down dinner vs. heavy hors d'oeuvres.

Eventually, Rey couldn't understand anything anyone was saying because each girl was trying to drown out the person next to them. So she cleared her throat and spoke up for the first time since they started the brainstorming session.

"How about we divide and conquer?" Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. She swallowed and continued, "Well, there's ten of us right? We can split up, five and five. One group handles the decorations and music, and the other can focus on food and guest list."

There was a pause, and then a general murmur of assent. The women divided naturally into two camps, and Rey was pleased to be with Kaydel, Gwen, and Jessika. She was slightly less thrilled Natalya was part of their group, but she was relieved it was her and not Bazine. They also, very serendipitously, took on the food and guest list responsibilities. They spent the rest of the afternoon beginning to jot down ideas for menus and who they could talk to about the guest list, only stopping when they got the notice for dinner.

Rey ascended the steps to her room that night, buzzing from the activity of the day. This would be a perfect opportunity for her to excel, and maybe she could shift Snoke's ire away from her.

She tried not to let the fact that Ben didn't look at her once during dinner bother her.

The next morning they all attended breakfast as usual, Rey with a continued motivation to impress with her team's responsibilities for the gala. They had planned a lot of ideas the day before, and were going to spend the morning refining the menu before they started meeting with the royal kitchen staff. They had just gotten to the second round of cheese plate options when Ben knocked and stuck his head in. He almost appeared shy, nervous, like he didn't want to be there.

He cleared his throat and everyone looked toward him. He pulled down on his blazer, another nervous tic, and took a few cautious steps into the room before clearing his throat again. Holdo gestured toward him that he could have the floor, and he cast his eyes towards the two camps of women.

"I was wondering if I could borrow Natalya, for a little bit?" He asked, his eyes flitting across the room and not making direct eye contact with anyone. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, nodding at Amilyn while Natalya stood up from their little table, a smug look on her face.

Rey watched with apprehension as he escorted her out of the room. He seemed to get on with her just fine at their archery lesson, she remembered bitterly, so why did he seem so anxious now? Rey shook off the feeling, assuming he was just taking her out on a date, and resumed her work with the other girls at her table. After a beat, conversation and planning for the gala resumed, a loud murmur echoing through the room as everyone made progress.

After lunch, the ladies had a reprieve from the party planning for another etiquette lesson, and Rey noticed Natalya still wasn't back. They hadn't seen Ben at lunch, either. She tried to not let the curiosity and worry worm its way into her head, but she couldn't help but wonder where they were, what they were doing. Was he kissing her?

"Miss Kanata!" Her eyes snapped up to Holdo's from the unfocused glaze they had taken on.

"Hmm?"

"A potential future princess does not let it be obvious when she is clearly disinterested in her current endeavors." Holdo admonished, and then turned back to the portable whiteboard where she continued the lesson. Rey internally rolled her eyes, but focused back on the lesson at hand.

She had to behave if she wanted to stay, and that was enough to get her to resume her attention on the lesson.

Natalya and Ben weren't there for dinner, either. Rey ate with her head down, not paying attention to the conversations swirling around her. She wanted to talk to Ben, and hadn't had a chance since he left her room a few nights ago. She wanted to hurry to her room and see Rose.

The second dinner let out, Rey bolted for the staircase, ready to talk to her friend about the day. Sure enough, Rose was there, waiting as usual, and the girls fell into a familiar and comfortable routine.

"How did the preparations go today, Rey?" Rose asked, undoing the bobby pins from her hair. Rey sighed softly.

"Good, I think. Natalya went missing mid-morning, I think she's been on a date with Ben all day long and I'm just trying not to think about it. Neither of them were at lunch or dinner."

Rose's hands faltered, then resumed taking down Rey's hair, but Rey noticed the slight shift and turned around in her seat, her head now out of reach of the woman.

"What do you know?" She asked, her eyes appraising her friend.

"Well...I'm not supposed to say…" Rose trailed off.

"Since when do either of us do only what we're supposed to?" Rey asked, half-teasingly, half-truthfully, and that caused a quiet laugh to bubble up out of Rose.

"I guess that's true." Rose said, and took a deep breath. "The staff talks, so I heard some things."

"What kind of things?"

"Natalya uh...um how do you say it...offered herself. To the prince."

Rey's eyes widened. "She what ?!"

Rose nodded. "I guess she's always been a touchy-feely person, but they were walking down one of the corridors and she came on to him really strong. My friend saw it while transporting kitchen linens. He apparently eliminated her on the spot and retreated to his room and no one has seen him since."

Rey sat there, awestruck, turning around slowly and staring in a stupor while Rose continued to get her ready for bed. Soon enough, Rose had finished her nightly routine with Rey, and let herself out of the room. Rey continued to sit at the vanity, eyes unfocused on her reflection in the mirror.

There were conflicting emotions warring in her mind. On the one hand, she was relieved; she was never a fan of Natalya, and certainly not a fan after hearing about her antics earlier that day. The news of her leaving, of another contestant out of the running, should have filled her with nothing but joy at being one step closer.

But she couldn't help but feel a little sad at the departure. Despite her feelings, the women had all started to feel almost like family. They'd spent so much time together it was starting to become impossible to picture life before them, or without them. Well, except Bazine.

She pushed up from the vanity, making her way to her bed and idly attempting to read for a while before ultimately giving up and going to sleep. As she pulled the covers up to her chin, she wondered what Ben was thinking about.


End file.
